Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Fauquier Times Entry Title: Fauquier County cleans up following flash floods Entry Credit: Sarah Dolgin, Tate Hewitt, Kaitlyn Salazar Judge Comment: Excellent story on local flooding from huge rainstorm. The statistics are there, but so are human stories of the flooding that make the writing and sourcing reader-engaging.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: The Cavalier Daily Entry Title: Ryan and Sheridan provide full accounts of Ryan’s resignation. They differ significantly Entry Credit: Ford McCracken, Cecilia Mould Judge Comment: A story that covers several months of wrangling concludes with university’s president resigning. The resignation is immediate and timely; the rest of the story details what led to this final moment. Well resourced and very well written.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Fauquier Times Entry Title: Two injured after train hits pickup truck Entry Credit: Tate Hewitt Judge Comment: Brief story of train-pickup collision, no injuries, no conversation with truck survivors. Extensive review of years ago accident at same crossing that took lives of emergency responders. Interesting: no gate or crossing alarm for approaching trains.
Competition Comment: So few entries here, but a breaking news event can eupt even after extensive coverage precedes it in other forms. The depth of the coverage helps readers understand and engage with the breaking event highlighted in these entries. Even the train-truck collision story was fed to readers by the re-reporting of an earlier event at the same location that took lives. The issue of uncontrolled access at the rail crossing hit home for readers.
