Scott McGehee, honored Thursday by the nation's newspaper feature editors, told them,  "Your great news came at an emotional time for me."

 McGehee, inducted into the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors Hall of Fame, said that the week she learned about the award, Knight-Ridder, "my professional home for almost 30 years," was sold and she also was diagnosed with breast cancer.

McGehee was recognized for innovative feature editing and storytelling ideas. It's in large part because of her that we see the full-fledged features sections of today.

 "This is quite an honor for work I literally did decades ago," McGehee told a luncheon crowd during the first full day of the conference.

McGehee, a former managing editor at the Detroit Free Press, where she also worked as the newspaper's associate editor and lifestyle editor, talked about the responsibility features writers have to reflect everyday life and tell relevant stories.

"Feature news that truly connects with readers is one of the hardest jobs in journalism," McGehee said. However, she added, feature writing is wide open to new ideas and approaches to storytelling and it is not subject to competition the same way hard news coverage is.

"There is little or no mandatory coverage. It is up to the journalist to figure out coverage," she said.

McGehee, who retired from journalism in 2001, suggests feature writers look for the different ways people lead their lives to tell better stories.

"Tell stories better than anybody else tells stories," she said. "People love good stories ... but it requires doing your homework, listening, listening to readers, doing research, doing one-on-one research, to figure out what works with readers."

As for looking for new ways to tell old stories, McGehee said approaches don't always have to be on a grand scale to have an impact.

"It doesn't have to be a big story," she said. "It can be quick box reminding readers to get their screening."