Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher - Better Newspaper Contest
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/96748
Division 1 Best News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure/Category 1 First place Forest Park linemen more than gridiron heroes Lisa W. Hoppenjans, Ferdinand News Comments: The reporter did a great job in detailing the accident report from first-hand accounts as well as giving the credit to the three men who deserved it ��� the heroes. Second place Mount Ayr school goes up in flames Cheri Gayfield, The Enterprise (Kentland) Comments: This story was well put together from the beginning in how it detailed the whole battle of the blaze. Really thought the ���fire facts��� part was an excellent piece to the story. Third place Two deadly weeks on Gibson County roads Andrea Preston & Eric Gogel, South Gibson Star-Times (Fort Branch) Comments: A string of fatal accidents. These stories were tactfully pieced together in an informative manner. Best News Coverage With No Deadline Pressure/Category 2 First place U.S. 41 crossing closures stirring Fort Branch Andrea Preston, South Gibson Star-Times (Fort Branch) Comments: These articles were well-written and provided a great deal of information that would be valuable to readers. I especially liked the explanations of how to get to and from certain locations if this were to occur. I was happy to see the quotes and information provided by the business owner/town employee, which also added to the overall flavor of the story. What I didn���t like was the front page font. It was difficult to read. Second place Quiet tribute Amanda Matlock, The Times-Post (Pendleton) Comments: This story provides a great insight into how the woman���s death continues to affect her friends and family. It also is a great follow-up to an event that may still be in readers��� thoughts. Third place WhatNext.com ��� ���We match people��� Cheryl Y. Hurst, Spencer County Leader (Dale) Comments: I love the explanation/background provided on how this website was founded. By providing this background, the article shows how the website is useful. Best Ongoing News Coverage/Category 3 First place For the love of Andrea Amanda Matlock, The Times-Post (Pendleton) Comments: Simply an awesome story here. Great followup stories and information provided so the public knows what���s going on with Andrea and how they can and have assisted her family in her recovery. Don���t need to ask, ���Wonder what ever happened to that woman that was in the stage collapse?��� Second place Super Bowl Village Diane Raver, The Herald-Tribune (Batesville) Comments: Super Bowl is a big, really big deal and this series showed the affect on a lot of different people, many who got involved in one way or anther. Kind of pulls a community, even a state, together, doesn���t it? Third place Laurel family murder Debbie Blank & Diane Raver, The Herald-Tribune (Batesville) Comments: A lot of work went into this ongoing coverage. Details are great. Bullets give information that doesn���t need to be in stories to make them extra long. Linemen more than gridiron heroes Lisa W. Hoppenjans Ferdinand News Senior Anthony Fischer, junior Austin Kempf and sophomore Ethan Knust, friends on and off the football field, were just walking into Rural King last Saturday morning when they heard the squeal of tires and the scream of tearing metal. ���Two ladies in the parking lot were yelling there was a wreck,��� relates Fischer, ���so we went up to where we could get a better view.��� They saw a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck lying on its passenger side in the roadway, along with an overturned trailer full of rock. No one, so far, had emerged from the wreckage. ���We just looked at each other and took off,��� Kempf says. As they approached the vehicle, they heard a little girl crying. ���We knew we had to help her,��� Fischer says. ���We thought she might be squished or something.��� They moved closer. ���We thought we might see something we really didn���t want to see,��� adds Kempf. ���But then the husband crawled out and pulled his daughter out behind him,��� Knust explains. As Fischer walked around the truck, he saw fire coming out of the engine compartment and fuel leaking out the back. ���It wasn���t bad, but I knew it was gonna get worse,��� Fischer shudders. ���We told the husband about the fire and he started yelling, ���We���ve got to get my wife ��� my pregnant wife ��� outta there!���,��� Kempf continues. Knust, Kempf and Fischer, along with an older man and a young woman in a military uniform, managed to lift the truck back onto its wheels and the pregnant woman was able to escape. ���As soon as we pushed the truck up, the fire got bigger,��� Fischer says. ���The lady took her little daughter to the side of the road and just cried,��� Kempf continues. ���Then, the lady from Rural King was coming with an extinguisher.��� Rural King employee Susan Kraemer was on her way across the parking lot with a fire extinguisher. Fischer ran to meet her, grabbed the extinguisher and headed back to the wreck. The fire was out by the time emergency personnel arrived. For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org Click on ���Contests.��� U.S. 41 closures stir Fort Branch By Andrea Preston South Gibson Star-Times (Fort Branch) Fort Branch officials are hurriedly putting together a last-minute effort in hopes of stopping a state transportation project with long-lasting impacts slated to get underway this week. Tom Wallace, president of the Fort Branch Town Council, said Monday morning the town is requesting the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) ���stop��� the planned project of removing roughly half of Fort Branch���s U.S. 41 median cross-overs. ���We���re putting together a formal request to stop this because of safety concerns,��� said Wallace, adding town officials, along with Ray Druley, town attorney, were still drafting the letter Monday morning. Within the month, INDOT plans to remove six of the median cross-overs in the Fort Branch area alone. Those include (from North to South): Iroquois Drive, Sinclair Street, Vine Street, Walnut Street, Mulberry Street and just south of Oak Street. (In 2013, the median just north of Coal Mine is slated to be removed.) The removal of those crossovers means that northbound U.S. 41 traffic will now be diverted to the remaining cross-overs (or Coal Mine and Indiana 168) for anyone wanting to turn left (west) and come into Fort Branch. The cross-overs that will remain open are: John Street, Locust Street, Strain Street and Oak Street. The removal will also force any resident leaving Fort Branch to go to one of the remaining open crossovers (or Coal Mine or Indiana 168) if they are wanting to turn left and go north on U.S. 41. And any resident in the Little York subdivision wishing to go north on U.S. 41 will now be forced to use the subdivision���s Indiana 168 access point For the love of Andrea Amanda Matlock The Times-Post (Pendleton) A former Pendleton Heights High School homecoming queen and at least one other resident from Pendleton were among the more than 40 people injured during the Indiana State Fair stage collapse that killed five on Saturday, Aug. 13. Andrea Vellinga, 30, of Pendleton suffered a critical injury after she was hit in the head during the collapse. Vellinga, a married mother of one, is currently in intensive care following a five-hour brain surgery, according to her brother Tyler Voss. ���Andrea is currently breathing with the help of a ventilator,��� Voss said. ���As independent a spirit as Andrea is, you can imagine the look of disgust on her face to have help with anything right now, let alone a ventilator. That should just assure us once again, she will win this war.��� Voss said his sister was waiting to watch the Sugarland concert from the front row and was injured by falling rafters. ���We assume that she was injured from a piece of the stage,��� Voss said. ���Right now she���s in such a delicate state, but she has contusions on both the right and left side of her skull.��� Voss added that she is currently in a medically induced coma so that the doctors can keep control of her instead of crossing at the median cross-over. All streets will still have access off of southbound U.S. 41, so traffic can make a right hand turn onto any of the streets. The work is expected to be completed by the end of April. ���It���s going to cause a lot of problems. We (Fort Branch) see it as a major safety concern,��� Wallace said. ���Too much traffic is going to be forced onto a few streets and cross-overs. We���re going to see people doing U-turns on U.S. 41 and we don���t want that.��� One concern, Wallace said, is Oak Street. He said the already busy street will see even more traffic because of the closures. Oak Street intersects with Hillcrest Street, one block north of the Fort Branch Community School. Hillcrest is one of only two routes to get to the school. For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org Click on ���Contests.��� vitals as opposed to letting her body take over. ���Through prayer, she has been able to sustain a consistent ICP (intracranial pressure) below 20 and temperature below 100,��� Voss said. ���She is our fighter. The next few days continue to be very important for her to keep the swelling down in her brain to avoid any further damage or trauma.��� Vellinga���s family and Facebook page have seen an outpouring of prayer and support from community members and friends. Hundreds of messages appeared within 48 hours after the extent of her For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org Click on ���Contests.��� Page 13