Honoring those who make us great
Better get right to the point. Last week I promised to share the winning efforts of the DuPage County staff's work last year. As you'll see, it ranges from work that screamed from the front page to behind-the-scenes acts of mild heroism that make a business, any business, run better. Here's the month-by-month breakdown:
January: Once again proving why he is one of the Chicago-area's top sports photographers, Ed Lee wins for his Jan. 22 shot of Bears receiver Bernard Berrien at the apex of his amazing jump celebrating the Bears NFC Championship victory. This Page 1 photo was so good, we turned it into a T-shirt.
February: Assistant City Editor Anne Halston, who oversees most of our Neighbor sections, came up with numerous innovative ideas to make the section stronger and more reader-friendly.
March: Education reporter Melissa Jenco uncovered secret talks between the Naperville Unit District 203 teachers union and some administrators on the possibility of reopening contract talks just before the local elections.
April: Sports writer Kevin Schmit for a poignant story on Naperville Central High School pitching coach Phil Lawler, who has been battling cancer for years.
May: Every office needs a Liz Samp. She's the person you get if you call the Daily Herald's main number here in Lisle. Liz also handles myriad administrative duties for the advertising, circulation and editorial departments as well. But one evening, after a sewer backup bubbled up through the carpeting, Liz stuck around until 8 p.m., waiting for the plumber to arrive. After that, she stayed until almost midnight, helping him with the most unappetizing of tasks: removing debris and other gunk from the backup.
June: City Editor Bob Smith, as he often does, came to the rescue when a challenge arose. I unexpectedly got 100 free passes for a new movie theater opening. The same day, Bob turned it into a great reader contest. Bob seized upon a timely topic -- release of the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Films list -- and suggested we ask our readers to send us their top five choices. Bob collated the entries, tallied the results, wrote a story about the contest and our readers' opinions and notified all the 50 lucky winners who each got two movie passes.
July: Photographer Bev Horne was assigned to shoot pictures of a local beekeeper. In doing so, she thought of our newest media: Video. So she arranged to go back a second time. This time the bees were more aggressive, and Bev was stung several times. But she got her video.
August: Photographer Paul Michna spent untold hours on his "Old School" video of aging skateboarders -- enough to create the only three-part video I'm aware of on dailyherald.com.
September: Reporter Jim Fuller for stories that showed considerable versatility: a piece on Wheaton North High School's band camp; a first-person story chronicling his valiant (some might say foolhardy) attempt to eat something from every food vendor at Wheaton's Autumnfest; a story on how almost 10 percent of the suburbs' sex offenders are missing or haven't checked in on time; and a Sept. 25 Neighbor package on two radically different outcomes for two men with similar upbringings trying to reconcile their homosexuality with their religion.
Boy, where did the months go? I'll wrap up 2007 next week. Promise.