The American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors’ Excellence-in-Feature-Writing awards honor the craft of feature writing and the people who do it for a living at daily newspapers and for wire services. AASFE also presents a Best Feature Section competition, which honors regularly scheduled feature sections.
We’ve posted the December 2009 newsletter for members, and it’s filled with end-of-the-year ideas. Go here to check it out.
Click here if you are a member and would like this year’s edition of Show and Steal.
You must have PowerPoint on your computer for the files to work.
Want to take a look at the winners of the online categories for the AASFE feature writing awards? Here’s how to do it:
A compilation of links to the winning entries can be found here.
Best Reader Interactive (Up to 90,000):
First Place: Florida Today, “90 Seconds to Fame”
It was a delight to discover the cinematic artistry in this super-short, send-us-a-movie contest. Although some of the comedy entrants felt overly scatological, this was a creative way to unlock the latent Francis Ford Coppola in coastal Floridians.
No second or third place awarded.
Best Reader Interactive (90,001 to 199,999):
First Place: The Florida Times-Union, “Mic Mania”
OK, it’s not American Idol, but The Florida Times-Union’s “Mic Mania” drew out some local singing stars and used the Web to crown two winners. Well-produced, easy to navigate video and audio added to the experience. The youngest winner sounds like a future AI star.
Second Place: The (Syracuse) Post-Standard, “Remembering Elmwood”
Sean Kirst, the author of The Post Standard’s “Remembering Elmwood” blog post, may not have known he was unleashing a flood of memories when he posted a simple item and archive photo about a faded street. But first one comment and then thousands more flowed in, and Sean stepped out of the way. Eventually, a virtual community formed around poignant memories, and Sean started writing about it in print. That’s interactivity.
Third Place: Austin American-Statesman, “Dog Show”
“Dog Show” is as simple as man’s best friend. Show pets some respect, and they’ll give you a lifetime of joy. There are thousands of user-contributed photos on this site, organized by breed and users even get to vote on their best pooch of the year.
Best Reader Interactive (More than 200,000)
First Place: The Kansas City Star, “29 Second Film Fest Winners”
Second: Allan Walton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Pittsburgh Rocks”
Third: The Washington Post/WashingtonPost.com, “2008 Post Hunt”
Honorable Mention: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Gallery Night and Day”
Multimedia Innovation (Up to 90,000)
First Place: The Roanoke Times, “Age of Uncertainty”
“Age of Uncertainty” is a comprehensive look at aging in a community that is graying as fast as any in the country. Interactive maps help define the problem visually. Audio essays from the subjects of the series add first-person punch. The live aggregation tools that pull out the latest news and information about the subject make this project live on. And it was all done on a blog platform. Nice.
Second Place: The Roanoke Times, “Art Museum”
“Art Museum” is artistry on a digital canvas: an innovative way to show off the new art museum by making a 3-D museum-going experience.
Third Place: The (Lynchburg) News and Advance, “Rites of Life”
We have seen stories about this or that stage of life before, but we couldn’t remember seeing an example of all the stages of life presented and packaged as well as The News and Advance did. From the retiring school bus driver’s account of her last day on the job to the anxious anticipation of the pre-teen girls about to be shot with an ear-piercing gun, this felt personal.
Multimedia Innovation (90,001 to 199,999)
First Place: Austin American-Statesman, “The Hula Hoop at 50”
“The Hula Hoop at 50” was as giggly to watch as a hula hoop is to play with. The old-time TV video was delightful (where’d they get that?) and we learned a thing or two about hula hoops. Who knew that it was the physics of friction that kept the hoop up?
Second Place: The (Syracuse) Post-Standard, “The Atunyote Golf Club”
The Post-Standard provided a rich graphical and visual breakdown of its PGA course in a multimedia extravaganza. The expert hole-by-hole video analysis was complemented with matching graphics that moved in the right way when the golf writer talked about it.
Third Place: The (Raleigh) News & Observer, “Eight Great Local Acts”
These eight great local acts may not all be up to Nashville’s standards, but the multimedia presentation by the News & Observer certainly is. The format was useful and of the music videos, the ones that the news staff produced were engaging.
Multimedia Innovation (More than 200,000)
First Place: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “In the Making”
“In the Making” is a stunning idea artfully executed. Not only did the team come up with a brilliant plan to expose how local artists do their craft, they thought to engage local filmmakers to produce the videos. A terrific twofer that showcased amazing visual people via artful visuals.
Second Place: The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Please Touch Museum”
The “Please Touch Museum” book is a lovely, Alice-in-Wonderland interactive experience, capturing a new museum in an innovative way. While we wish the story text were simpler, the depth and visual design of the entire scrapbook experience makes this one book we want to hold onto for a long time.
Third Place: San Antonio Express-News, “LatinaSA”
“LatinaSA” covers a respected yet evidently overlooked group of community pioneers in a beautiful digital display. Although some of the profile writing is uneven, the best ones, such as that of the 84-year-old ‘La Calandria,’ sing.
For those having trouble finding the conference schedule posted on AASFE, just click here.
Also, remember to keep tweeting! Use the hashmark #aasfe in your tweet, and it will show up on our Twitter feed.
Hey, folks:
The Portland conference is looming, and it’s shaping up to be a good one, despite all of the challenges that we’re facing at our newspapers.
We want you to use this spot to connect with folks who will be in Portland with you. Looking to see who might share a ride to the airport? Need a lunch companion before the conference kicks off? Just have some general questions about the conference? Here’s where to post them!
The July 2009 AASFE newsletter is now posted. Take a look at it for great ideas to steal!
Division 1: Up to 90,000
Lincoln Journal Star
Wilmington Star-News
Florida Today
The Roanoke Times
News & Record, Greensboro
Division 2: 90,000 to 199,999
Sun-Sentinel
The News & Observer, Raleigh
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The Charlotte Observer
The Edmonton Journal
Division 3: More than 200,000
St. Petersburg Times
Chicago Tribune
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Washington Post
The Kansas City Star
Hey, all:
Welcome to the new AASFE blog, where we hope AASFE members will interact and find a lot of stuff that interests them.
If you’re here, you’ve obviously found the blog. To post comments, you need to register. NOTE: This is separate from your sign-in for aasfe.org.
Already on the site are a number of things that people have asked for: a membership list in a searchable format; a list of many photography resources available to our members; a running list of members’ blogs and where to find them; and how to contact some of our editors who have changed jobs or left the journalism field.
This is definitely a work in progress, including finding the best way to post new items to the blog. Right now, if you think something needs to be added, please let Kalyani Chadha or Alec Harvey (aharvey@bhamnews.com) know.
Enjoy!
