I received some of them, and the first one is one that I am honored to have had the chance to write.
I received a first place award for Excellence in Feature Writing among papers that come out more than once a week, but not daily.
The judge wrote, "I’ve read a lot of stories about World War II veterans, and I’ve read a lot of stories about D-Day. Didn’t think I wanted to read another, but the story of Buddy Ernanadez was vivid and involving, capturing both the humor and horror of that experience. It also benefited from a nice lede that deviated from the predictable. … Guilfoyle weaves together the memories of friends and coworkers to fashion a fond and funny portrait of a beloved community figure. It also benefits from a beautiful ending that comes full-circle."
Read that story, BACK TO THE BEACH: Ernandez returning to Normandy one final time," here.
I also received a second place for Excellence in Editorial Writing.
"The author tackles tough subjects such as race, corruption and poverty with reason, conviction and moral courage. He also takes on a county attorney without blinking an eye. Bravo."
I submitted the same editorials to the SCPA, and received first place for them.
The editorials considered were, "Picking on the poor," about Gov. Mark Sanford; "Should he have mentioned it?" about former Superintendent Larry Heath; and "County wrong to threaten to sue," about the county threatening to sue county residents during the Fort Lawn situation.
I received a second place award for Best News or Feature Story Series.
The judge wrote, "A newspaper reporter hears about a state report that indicates that the county ranks second in the state for lung cancer and third for colorectal cancer. He could write the news story and move onto the next assignment. Or he could do a series on the cancer rates and risks. Fortunately for the readers in Chester County, The News & Reporter chose the latter."
The Cancer series is online in the Feature section of OnlineChester.com. The story that kicked off the series can be read here: "CANCER IN CHESTER COUNTY: County ranks in top five in some categories."
Do a search for "Cancer in Chester County" and the rest of series will come up as the first results.
I received a third place award for Best On-Going / Extended Coverage
"Guilfoyle and another reporter took a tip and a bunch of documents and turned them into a good investigative piece about questionable purchases of surplus property. The accompanying letter notes that The News & Reporter was the only media outlet working the story to routinely go to the official involved in the controversy, the chief deputy, for comment. That’s commendable."
That was the Fort Lawn controversy. It is in archives of OnlineChester.com. It started with two stories, this one by me, "State, SLED reviewing purchases, and this one by Travis Jenkins, "Former councilmen express surprise at outcome of meeting."
The paper won a third place award for Best Front Page Design; Phyllis Lucas did the work on these pages and got the award.
The judge said, "Clean design, nice use of photos and entry points. Your photo choice with the fire story was right on. But it might’ve been good to get that dominant photo above the fold, maybe in a different layout so readers don’t just see black smoke."
Here's that page ---
Phyllis also got a second place award for Best General Page Design.
The judge wrote, "The pages in this entry were well-balanced and had a good range of photos and other elements. What could take this entry to the next level would be adding more white spaces between stories and rules and having even more of a hierarchy among some of the photos."
I'd like to display the pages, but I'm not sure which ones were submitted.
Lastly, the newspaper came in second for Best Special Section. We submitted the 2009 football section, called “Big.”
The judge wrote, "The only thing that kept it from first place is that it wasn’t as comprehensive as (another paper's) section. No fear, though, I know the readers pulled it out to refer to in preparation for every Friday night."
I did the cover, which was a riff on the movie, "The Incredible Hulk."
Travis Jenkins did all the writing for the section.
Go to OnlineChester.com and enter "2009 Chester County Football Preview: BIG" into the search field and you'll get the stories.
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