Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Bristol Herald Courier Entry Title: Series of stories on the former Virginia Intermont College Entry Credit: David McGee Judge Comment: This is a series of stories detailing the city's actions in dealing with a former private college property owned by a foreign investor after a fire destroyed or damaged all the buildings on the defunct campus.
While a good progression unfolds, there is little new in each story, so there is a lot of necessary repetition/summary to keep the reader informed about the overall story.
Seems standard and writing is clear. It is intereting that the reporter does not appear to have to tried to make direct contact with the owners, though that might have been difficult because of the Chinese ownership.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: The News & Advance Entry Title: Portrait of former LCS superintendent replaced with character from 'The Goonies' Entry Credit: Mark Hand, Madi Kirkman Judge Comment: This is a series of stories about the progression that occurred after a board member replaced the photo of the school superintent with an unflattering movie character, his subsequent apology, and his refusal to resign from the board.
While outcry continued, there seemed to be little progress as the stories continued, resulting in a lot of seemingly unnecessary repetition of key phrases from each story. The does not appear to be much reporting inititative beyond covering the incident as it came up from board meeting to board meeting.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Bristol Herald Courier Entry Title: Series of stories about rebuilding the Virginia Creeper Trail Entry Credit: David McGee Judge Comment: Series of stories about rebuilding the Virginia Creeper Trail (7)
This is a series of stories outlining progression of efforts to rebuild an 18-mile bike trail damaged by hurricane floods. Because it covers a multi-month timeline, there is a lot of neccesary repetition/summary of the whole story with each new development.
The writing is clear, but what seems to be missing is more on how local residents feel about the project. The details of the project are here, but where is the community feeling?Bristol Herald Courier
Competition Comment: It is hard for single-story entries to compete with multi-story entries in this category, especially when none of the entries shows initiative beyond covering meetings. All were improtant community stories, though some had more impact.
