Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Delano Herald Journal Entry Title: Storyteller Entry Credit: Matt Kane Judge Comment: From the lede to the end, the writer obviously enjoyed his topic and showed it by his turns of phrase. A joy to read. I dislike long sentences but who could dislike this: "Fifty years to the day after walking through the doors of the Thief River Falls Times, June 8, 2019, at his cozy home in Delano, Kezar and a large gathering of friends celebrated his career with a hog roast and enough memory-spurring libations to make all photojournalists appreciative of auto focus."
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Stillwater Gazette Entry Title: Santa's Stillwater Toyland Entry Credit: Kim Schneider Judge Comment: Starting with poetic verse is a risk that this writer took. She succeeded with her own verse that perfectly fit the rhythm of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." And the story itself is told well.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Pelican Rapids Press Entry Title: There was no loss of words--to describe Faith Entry Credit: Louis Hoglund Judge Comment: Here's an article about the impact in a community of a young person with disabilities, reported from the funeral, using the words of the people who spoke about her. I didn't find anything routine about this reporting nor anything mawkish or prying. The writing flowed and the article seemed to capture a young life gone too soon and the effects she had on the community.
Competition Comment: All of the topics chosen for these entries were human interest. What isn't, in a good newspaper? But the difference between a good topic and a good story is the writer's involvement in the telling of the story. Without committing the "cardinal sin" of putting the writer into the story, the writer of a human interest story should enhance the story - not exaggerating the story or its importance but writing so that when the reader is finished, she or he is happy to have read the article, rather than dropping out at 4 inches into a 25-inch story. The top winners in this category did that.
