Sports Feature Story ( 10,001 and Over Multi-Day)Back
Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Rochester- Post Bulletin Entry Title: Living from the heart Entry Credit: Pat Ruff Judge Comment: Excellent, compelling, inspirational storytelling. I was hooked from the first sentence to the final graph. Jay Ryan's story of resilience and determination is amazing on its own. The writing made it sing. It's obvious that the writer spend a lot of time with Jay and his family to get the whole story. It's one of the best stories I've read in a long time. Kudos on a job well-done!
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Rochester- Post Bulletin Entry Title: The touchdown of a lifetime Entry Credit: Isaac Trotter Judge Comment: Wow. What an amazing story that tugs at the heartstrings. The story paints such a nice portrait of lifelong sports fan Brody Larson. I wish I could have seen photos or a video of him scoring the touchdown.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Hibbing/Virginia Mesabi Tribune Entry Title: Miners: End of an era Entry Credit: Jim Romsaas Judge Comment: Excellent tribute to this home-away-from-home for so many in the community. Starting off with the vignette of the daughter of the Parks and Rec Director was the perfect way to draw in the reader. Yes, the story is long, but I really liked the depth of reporting and all of the stories/remembrances of the "home" where skaters, coaches and fans made so many memories. Really nice job!
Competition Comment: Overall, it was very hard to pare this down to three winners.
I would like to give honorable mentions to "Inside what makes Mike Hastings Special" by Kevin Dudley of the Mankato Free Press and "Football: Faith ..." by the Duluth News Tribune, which made good use of video and embedded photos in the online version of the story.
