Premier Awards - Best Feature Story ( Circulation up to 1499,Circulation 1500 to 3999)
Back
Place Name:
First Place
Contestant Name:
The Rocky Mountain Goat (Valemount/McBride, BC)
Entry Title:
Remembering the 2003 McLure Fire Outage
Entry Credit:
Laura Keil
Judge Comment:
An anniversary story about such a big event in the community will be well-received by readers. Everyone likes a look back at an episode of adversity that they got through. Way to dig up the old participants.
Very well structured, moving from snapshot to snapshot to tell the story from start to finish. Excellent narrative writing. Great use of sources. Great research.
Smart play with the front page cover, teasing the feature article. Nicely set up to tell readers, "something big is coming."
Place Name:
Second Place
Contestant Name:
The Macleod Gazette (Fort Macleod, AB)
Entry Title:
HAM RADIO FIELD DAY
Entry Credit:
Frank McTighe
Judge Comment:
Setting the ham operators against the background of floods and wildfires makes it real, relevant to readers, especially in Alberta. An easy storytelling style. Good use of sources' anecdotes and interviews. Good collection of voices. Good front page picture. Nice secondary picture inside.
Well done connecting the emergencies (that are in the front of readers' minds) to the value of ham operators.
Place Name:
Third Place
Contestant Name:
Powell River Peak (Powell River, BC)
Entry Title:
Coordinated effort saves life
Entry Credit:
Paul Galinski
Judge Comment:
Good work to get someone to tell her own medical scare and her own recovery. Readers like stories about people overcoming adversity and stories that illuminate how the health-care system works. Good use of Dr. Wyse's voice to bring in another voice, and an authority. Good use of interview. Nice flow. Good narrative. Nice profile picture.
Competition Comment:
"Remembering the 2003 McLure Fire Outage" by Laura Keil at the Rocky Mountain Goat was a true feature article - an in-depth look at an issue that's not necessarily making news, but that will interest readers.
Laura deftly makes use of interviews with nearly a dozen sources and walks readers down memory lane, recapping how the fire outage affected people from a variety of walks of life.
She dug deep into the archives to find sources worth checking in on 20 years after the fire.
Frank McTighe's "Ham radio field day" similarly harnesses the anecdotes of three sources to convey to readers the quirky but important world of ham radio operations.
And Paul Galinski's "Coordinated efforts save life" does a good job of getting the subject Tracey to open up about a harrowing experience in her life in a way that's informative to readers about a potential health scare that's out there and an encouraging story of how the health-care system responded.
