Feature Series or Continuing Story ( Non-Daily Group 1)Back
Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: The Greene County Record Entry Title: Artist in Residence: Art is not canceled Entry Credit: Terry Beigie, Kathleen Borrelli Judge Comment: This was an ambitious and excellent series by the Greene County Record looking at how the arts community has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. A couple of the features had unnecessary elements in the ledes ("The front-line question for nearly every recent article has been how has the pandemic affected XYZ?" It could have been better served by immediately focusing on the artist. But most dove right into the subject, like Terry Beigie's profile of artist Cat Denby: "Cat Denby always had a creative side, but never expected to become an artist. Then in 2009 her husband bought her art supplies and the self-taught pastel artist hasn't looked back." All stories are very informative, had good supporting quotes and background on the artist. Photos of art and artist really enhanced the stories and series.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Rappahannock News Entry Title: Sperryville Turns 200 Entry Credit: Daphne Hutchinson Judge Comment: The Rappahannock News' well-designed and charming special section celebrating the bicentennial of a tiny Virginia town stands out thanks in large part to the efforts of writer Daphne Hutchinson. For example, how do you make the creation of a sewer system interesting? Daphne pulled it off in her story headline "The Big Stink."
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Smith Mountain Eagle Entry Title: Sherese Gore BLM Articles Entry Credit: Sherese Gore Judge Comment: The Smith Mountain Eagle offers a conscientious effort by writer Sherese Gore to localize national stories about race, white privilege, Confederate statues and cultural clashes. The entry featured printouts of stories and would have been helped with copies of actual printed pages with photos, headlines and other elements. But the strength of her writing more than made up for those absences.
