Stop the presses!
Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger!
Self-promoting, semi-gloating and perhaps less-than-timely column approaching!
Nonetheless, I had a bunch of end-of-the-year vacation time to use and didn't get around to writing my end-of-the-year recap column. I figure better late than never, so there. Also, what business worth its salt doesn't do a little self-promoting every once in a while?
And in this business, I figure we really have to do better self-promoting these days. You may have heard. Newspapers are struggling these days for audience and their share of the revenue dollar. Layoffs and hiring freezes are everywhere. E-mails flying all over the place about the sorry state of our industry.
Against that backdrop, I figured it was time to invent the First Annual Dupy awards, something to give staff morale a little boost. We have a newspaper-wide monthly editorial award of excellence. But, frankly, I was miffed that my nominees didn't win every single time. So what better way to make sure the hard-working DuPage staff gets its proper due? Fortunately, I had saved every one of my monthly nominations from last year, so it was just a matter of picking the winners.
Ah, but upon reviewing my list, I discovered it's a whole lot easier to offer up a bunch of nominees and bellyache about the results. Consider the stellar work that came from this office in January, 2007 alone (real, official nomination verbiage from the other DuPage editors and me):
• Christy Gutowski for her Jan. 7 story on the confidential FBI files of sex killer Brian Dugan. Once again, Christy showed her exceptional sourcing abilities by getting the secret files, and researching the hundreds of pages of notes on interviews with Dugan, family members and others to paint a vivid portrait of the man accused of the 1983 murder of Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville. Christy also was an excellent interview on ABC 7 Sunday news.
• Bev Horne for her video of doggy day care. It was our first video production from this office, and Bev became both a videographer and a reporter for the project. She shot stills the day the reporter was there, then went back to get video and an interview with the owner. It was a sweet project that helped me understand the overall value of what a video project can do to enhance a print story.
• Marni Pyke for her Jan. 4 piece on the Heartland Shelter, a Rogers Park shelter for homeless immigrant children. A great profile of the place, perhaps allaying some of the fears about a similar facility proposed near Naperville.
• Justin Kmitch: His two-day coverage of the death of a worker at a concrete plant in Bloomingdale went way beyond any other media outlet. Particularly in the second-day follow-up story, Justin gave poignancy to the story by showing how close the families of the victim and plant owner were, and got a rare interview with the plant owner himself. Stories ran Jan. 18 and 19. A few days later, on Jan. 25, Justin came up with a story about a Bloomingdale youth baseball coach who resigned because he's a registered sex offender. This was a really tough story to write, not only because of the sensitive nature of the topic, but because the community seemed really polarized on this, some supporting the coach, others appalled he was allowed to coach.
• Dave Oberhelman's cover story in the Jan. 19 Sports Extra, "Who trains the hardest?" It was a fun read and a good way to hook a wide variety of readers.
See what I mean? Wanna write and help me make my final selections? My e-mail address is coming up in four lines. I'm planning to announce all the winners at a black tie staff awards ceremony next week, writers strike be darned. I'll share the results with you shortly afterward.