Brian Kelley

Brian Kelley, an editor on our metro desk, is the winner of this year’s Rugaber Prize (named after former publisher Walter Rugaber), awarded annually to a staff member in our newsroom whose work in the previous year “displayed, day in and day out, an intense curiosity, a depth of understanding, and an enterprising drive to discover unique and significant stories.”

Kelley, who has worked at the paper as an editor and a reporter since 1993, leads a team of seven news reporters covering Roanoke and the surrounding localities. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and two sons and volunteers for a variety of community of organizations, including the Boy Scouts of America and the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club. Before coming to

The Roanoke Times, he worked at the Daily Press in Newport News, The Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Potomac News in Northern Virginia.

When presenting him the award on Thursday, Editor Carole Tarrant noted that when it comes to journalism, Kelley embraces new digital tools while preserving the traditional standards of journalism.

“As a team leader on the metro desk, he’s an air traffic controller juggling incoming assignments, reporter schedules and demanding bosses who are forever looking for Virginia centerpieces,” she told the staff. “This intense multitasking has always been the life of a metro team leader. But in recent years, we’ve added yet another layer to this demanding job: immediacy. We, those demanding bosses, want it all now, and on multiple channels. We put a lot on the shoulders of our Rugaber winner, true, but we believe he intuitively understands the reasons why. We want it now because it needs to be now for us to survive, thrive and beat our competition.”

Kelley, never one to seek attention, was visibly touched by the recognition though he appeared slightly embarrassed by the attention at the ceremony.

In an email sent a few hours after receiving the award, Kelley thanked his colleagues for their support and well wishes and offered inspiring words about the future of journalism, despite the financial challenges of recent years.

“What has been clear to me over the past year … is that the various digital media tools are necessary and good to find new audiences and new revenue for our business to succeed. But those tools are meaningless without smart, creative and passionate people conceiving and producing the journalism that can be distributed through those multiple channels,” Kelley wrote.

“Likewise, another critical component is leadership that can communicate that connection between tools and talent. That’s where I need to do a better job in telling you that every day, every one of you — the reporters, photographers and editors who come up with story ideas and work the phones and sources for angles, the editors who catch a crucial error in copy or design a compelling page to draw in the reader, the many people now at work reorganizing and redesigning our websites — are the ones that give us a fighting chance as we try to navigate the rip current of change.”

“I survived a real rip current in 1997 off Avon in the Outer Banks. The thing of it is, after you stop panicking and let the current take you out to where the beach houses look tiny, then you have to have enough strength left to swim back to shore.”

“You all are the strength that will see us through.”

Written like a true Rugaber Award winner.

Share/Bookmark

Hammack

First place: Laurence Hammack

This entry showed all the traits of a winner, combining skillful writing with good reporting. The prison story is a case in point: The writer pulled the reader in with color that showed us what the prison looked and sounded like, contrasted that with how a prison ordinarily sounds and hit us with the nut explaining that the place just opened, how much it cost and why it was empty. Hammack’s copy was consistently strong, demonstrated by deep, substantive pieces that were a breeze to read backed by smooth, descriptive prose that kept the reader hooked and thorough reporting that delivered all the key facts along with the perspective and context that elevated some stories from good to great. After reading some of Hammack’s work, I found that other pieces so strongly bore his imprint that I didn’t need to check the byline to know the author. That’s one of the marks of an ace.

 

Second place: Neil Harvey

This writer consistently mined his beat to turn ordinary stories into strong, readable pieces relying on tight, descriptive writing and good reporting. The lede to the first story in his entry, about the man socked in the face by his neighbor, is one from which the reader simply can’t turn away – that lede demands that the reader go to the next paragraph. That piece and the next one, about a karate instructor who turned the tables on a domestic abuser, and another on the purloined goat are examples of the kinds of stories far too many cops reporters miss or, maybe worse, drown in a sea of copspeak. There weren’t examples of big-impact stories in this entry and the story on the rubber-stampSalemcouncil took too long to develop and contained bits of jargon that this writer ordinarily avoided. But some good overall work here.

 Category: Feature writing

Judge — Tom Huang , Sunday & enterprise editor at The Dallas Morning News.  

Chittum

First place: Matt Chittum

This was a highly competitive category. It’s clear that the Roanoke Times has a strong commitment to storytelling. Chittum’s entry distinguishes himself in several ways:

 

•           He sees the potential in stories that some other journalists might pass by. Whether it’s a family struggling to live in an area with few supermarkets, or a young man contemplating how he can best serve his country post 9/11, or a community that strengthens its ties around Friday night football – these are stories that a reporter could easily handle through surface-level features. But Matt goes deeper. He knows that the best way to understand a larger issue or trend is to explore how it affects ordinary people. He knows that the power of a story comes through the details we learn about these people. He puts us in their shoes.

•           He takes the time to earn people’s trust. He clearly did so with Traci Walters and her gymnastics team, Rebekah Detwiler and her family, Todd Edgell and his parents and girlfriend. They opened up their lives to him. He writes about these folks in some of their most vulnerable moments. You never get the sense that he is judging them or taking advantage of them.

•           He demonstrates great versatility. He applies his craftsmanship not only to longer project-style stories, but also quick turnarounds. I was impressed that he got the interview with the widow of the slain Virginia Tech police officer and turned the story around in a couple of hours. He also turned his attention to smaller stories – the trail guide who rescued the boy from the grizzly, the Virginia Brewing Co. history, the skunk problem inGrandinVillage. This is the mark of a curious, energetic and open-minded reporter.

 

Macy

 Second place: Beth Macy

Beth Macy’s entry is anchored by a true show-stopper – her narrative on the death of Mike Sword. This story shines not just because of the compelling writing, but because of Beth’s meticulous reporting. She persuaded Sword’s family and his former colleagues and law enforcement officials to talk to her, allowing her to present a multidimensional portrait of Sword. Her description of Sword’s last moments – based on records and police interviews – is simply chilling. The scenes involving Sword’s father – how he seeks to remember his son – are simply devastating.

In reading the rest of Beth’s entry, I feel like I come to know theRoanokearea’s quirky and colorful characters. They are all passionate people, trying to help others, trying to find a purpose in their lives. And Beth’s voice is so warm and conversational that you can guess why people like to talk to her. Her humor comes with a smile and never mocks.

Newspapers are so lacking in humanity right now – the humanity that you find in a neighborhood, a barbershop, a classroom. That’s why Beth’s stories are so refreshing; readers are lucky to get to meet the people that Beth meets.

 Category: Sports Writing

Judge — Ruben Luna, associate sports editor for The Detroit News

 

First place: Aaron McFarling

Nice daring column on women’s soccer; someone who takes a chance and delivers with facts and strong support. His columns have lots of details. Great color and very consistent. He makes me feel like I’m at the events. … Game story and feature — nice job, too. Consistent and strong.

 

 

Taylor

Second place: Mark Taylor

River story is awesome! He rates as an excellent writer — lots of detail and emotion. His copy is complete. Usually outdoors writers and stuffy and boring —not Mark. His copy is fun to read, even for the non-outdoorsy type. Fun, emotional and colorful. I was looking forward t getting to the next piece.

 

 

 

 Category: Headline Writing

 Judge — Andy Bechtel teaches editing and news writing at the University of North Carolina School of Journalism. He joined the faculty in 2005 after nearly 12 years of editing experience in newspapers.

 

Rooney

First place: Alec Rooney

 

His portfolio shows his ability to use wordplay, alliteration, rhyme and other techniques in a subtle yet effective way. Among his standout headlines: “Fireflies bounce back to light up the night;” “Mastermind of ‘Fork’ has plenty on his plate;”and “Upgraded quarry rolls out more rock.”

 

 

 Second place: Rich Mathieson

Mathieson

He has an unusual knack for matching the content of the headline with the image it accompanies. This includes photos as with the “Football’s here: Huff, puff, pant” as well as photo illustrations with the chess board and “Realignment: Tech ponders next move.”

 

 

 

        

 

  Category: Photography

 Judges — Naples Daily News staff photographers Greg Kahn, Lexey Swall and Scott Mcintyre.

Dean

First place: Sam Dean

 This portfolio was the clear winner. Excellent singles. The first image in the singles category was an exceptional moment. This photographer is seen pushing the visual boundaries a lot in their work. … Good pacing of the portfolio too, enjoyed the lighter moments (portrait of man with birthday hat on) to more serious moments (Veteran with flag and cross). The stories were also the best of the bunch from this photographer. The final story about the high school student joining the Army was well seen, had a variety of situations and strong moments. Overall, a very good job by this photographer.

 

 

 

 Second place: Kyle Green

Green

This portfolio also had strong singles … Sports images were well done as were the portraits. … The tornado coverage was solid and had some really nice moments.

 

       

 

 

 

Category: Daily news page design

Judge — Charles Apple is a freelance visual journalist and instructor who is perhaps best known these days for his blog on the American Copy Editors Society Web site. Apple is the former graphics director of the Virginian-Pilot and the Des Moines Register.  He’s also worked as a graphic artist at the Chicago Tribune and the Raleigh News & Observer.

First place: Diane Lewin

Lewin

I love the sensitive use of typography on the “strike to the soul” page and the wonderful treatment used on the 911 call page and the Earnhardt anniversary package. The Elizabeth Taylor page is particularly nice and clean. This designer has identified the strengths and weaknesses of the Times’ typographical tools and knows how to get the most mileage out of them. Gorgeous work.

 

 

 

 

Second place: Howard Wimmer

Wimmer

One of the worst things any designer can do is try to work with a square as lead art. You can make a more dramatic page with long rectangular shapes: Either horizontals or verticals. This designer is showing an ability to find the heart of a news photo and then find a way to build a headline and copy around a crop that will extract the most drama from it. In particular, the Wimbledonand Redskins pages here sparkle.

 

 

 

 

Category: Advance page design

Judge — Charles Apple  

 First place: Terri Macklin

Macklin

While all the entries in this category were quite good, this particular entry had a particular sparkle in the way it used typography and photos. The playfulness of the two food pages was spot-on, balancing fun with interesting information. The “Appeasing” headline was perfect. But the wedding spread was a wonderful blend of large photos, smaller vignette-type shots and a great sense of balance out on the edges of the spread. Masterful work.

 

 

 

 

Second place: Mark Shaver

Shaver

No matter how much fun they may be to read, it’s all too easy to let large blocks of copy become visually boring. This designer shows two examples of how to not let that be the case: With the Daytona and college bowl pages. This takes a great sense of typography and white space. The other pages here show the designer has mastery over the first rule of design: When you have a great picture, use it big and get the hell out of its way.

.

 

 

 

Category: Online innovation

 Judge — Laura Sellers-Earl, digital development director for East Oregonian Publishing Co.

Loew

First place: Ryan Loew

Ryan demonstrated a diversity of breadth in his entries. Not only did he perform well in assigned stories, but also showed the initiative to come up with his own ideas. In each case, he capitalized on the subject and increased our understanding or enjoyment of the issue or event. By incorporating other technologies with video, he was able to provide insight as to what PTSD is and helped me understand the disorder better. There was real innovation in working around the limits of the victims by explaining the disorder through graphics and explanatory interviews. (Note: Two staffers claimed more than 50 percent of this project, but I calculated that Ryan did the most.) The intro to the “Gamers” piece was very nice. It was nicely paced and fed into the nostalgia some of us feel about the older video games, while helping younger generations understand more about from whence they came. I especially liked the sectioning of the piece into “levels.” The “game over” ending was perfect. For Poetry in Motion, I wasn’t sure the pacing worked, but it was a fun idea. The serendipity of finding the dog rescue in the tornado aftermath story was good, but the whole package helped give perspective. In Rock Mom, I thought it went on a tad too long, but enjoyed it much the same. Ryan seemed to have the best grasp of his work, as illuminated in the required entry explanation. I believe he has a strong base of technique, story-telling and creativity to build on the already robust and innovative Roanoke Times digital library.

 Second place: Sam Dean

Dean

Sam does an exceptional job of illustrating and informing a story through video. My favorite was probably the “Coming of Age in a Time of War” piece, which he helped instigate. This piece took perseverance, but didn’t overwhelm us with too much information. The video was powerful, interwoven and emotional. There was also a great photo gallery. His first entry about the train artist was good story-telling. I would have loved to have seen a time-lapse of a drawing, although Sam gave us the bits to imagine it in our heads. The fly-fishing video was interesting because of its subject matter. The b-roll was good and overall, it was solid. I did not weigh in on PTSD, because, as mentioned above, I gave the 50-percent battle to Ryan. The arial ballet piece was definitely informative and entertaining. I was glad he tried some creative editing, although I wasn’t sure it worked. Although, all said and done, the intro was beautiful and engaging.

Share/Bookmark

But the letter that arrived here today beats them all. Here it is, in all of its adorable glory:

3/27/12

From: Megan Smith

Mrs. Wilson’s Class

4902 HVM School Road

Roanoke, Va. 24018

To Whom It May Concern,

I am 11 years old and I find it hard to follow newspaper articles on politics. I am not alone. Most kids are too young to understand politics. Therefore, I’m requesting, if you don’t mind, that you add a new column to your paper called, “Kids for Kids.” I presume this will get more newspaper fans, twice as much profit, and adults will enjoy a kid’s point of view on certain topics.

Since some kids may be too young to understand politics. What we could benefit from is a popular newspaper like the Roanoke Times to spark their interest. Wouldn’t it be nice to see kids begging to get the newspaper to read the newest updates on books, video games, TV shows, movies, places and, of course, our national past-time? No, not baseball, although we could write about that, too. But, I mean, politics!

Perhaps teachers will even purchase the paper on a regular basis to use on current events for classroom discussions and to see what kids are interested in, and how they are voicing their opinions. Don’t get me wrong, your paper is interesting, but not necessarily to kids.

If this idea works, it may get kids to urge their parents into buying the newspaper. The Roanoke Times will receive, I’m speculating, a nice profit. Also with these added columns the newspaper may be able to get inspiration for the comic section. They are kind of boring.

Adult readers have much to gain from kid articles. They may want to see a kid’s movie review to know what to buy him or her for his/her birthday. If a parent needs to get their child to read more but they don’t seem interested in books, the newspaper may be just the tool a parent needs to bring back the art of reading.

Thank you for reading my opinion. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of future hungry readers could be at your fingertips. You could with just one change.

Sincerely,

Megan Smith

A newspaper-reader wanna-be

Share/Bookmark

Photo by Jack Booth featured on www.chinaghosts.com, the site promoting Jeff Gammage's book on Chinese adoption.

I’m proud to say our newsroom has a small connection to journalism’s most prestigious award, the Pulitzer prize for public service.

Former Roanoke Times reporter Jeff Gammage, a James Madison Univeristy graduate, was part of a Philadelphia Inquirer reporting team that recently won that award for its coverage of violence in the city’s school system.  Along with Gammage, reporters John Sullivan, Susan Snyder, Kristen A. Graham, Dylan Purcell and Gammage spent more than a year working on the “Assault on Learning” series.

Gammage covered Franklin County from 1984-1987 before leaving for the Inquirer. I exchanged e-mails this week with him this week asking him to briefly reflect on his time here and his role in the series. Instead of rewriting a Pulitzer winner, I’ll share excerpts of his e-mail.

On his beat when he worked in Roanoke:

“The editors there were very smart, in that each reporter covered both a local beat, ie, Franklin County, and a state beat, which for me was the state prison system, and which at the time was coming apart at the seams. I always felt like I had the best beat on the paper. At the time, developers both local and outside were just beginning to discover Smith Mountain Lake, so you had this enormous influx of people, money and change into a staid, rural county that liked things just the way they had always been. It was like the California gold rush – a total, unregulated free-for-all. Franklin County didn’t even have zoning laws. The quandaries and conflicts were rich and never ending.”

“I remember — within weeks or months of my arrival – being sent to Richmond to cover the execution of Linwood Briley, a vicious mass murderer, whose death signaled that the state was going to get serious about carrying out the death penalty. The crowd outside the State Pen, demonstrators pro and con, was so shifting and potentially violent that even now, having seen some surly crowds, it stands out in my memory. What an opportunity for a 25-year-old reporter, huh? What confidence the editors showed in a young reporter – who could have completely screwed up the coverage. I learned that night that I could land in a strange city, get the story, and file it by deadline – an awakening that has always stayed with me.”

On his mentors in Roanoke:

My direct supervisor was Betty Strother, then an assistant city editor [now on the editorial page staff], who was not just a great journalist but a wonderful mentor. She had come from St. Louis, a real big-city paper, and I learned a lot from her. She was devoted to making all the stories of her staff the best they could be, however long it took. Roland Kidwell was the city editor, Frosty Landon the executive editor, Bill Warren the ME [managing editor], Rich Martin the deputy ME, all of them super people and journalists. Doug Pardue and Chuck Hite were the investigators extraordinaire — and gods to us youngsters.

His job now:

“I’m currently assigned to the Inquirer city desk as a general assignment reporter, so I write on all sorts of topics. Previously I was a staff writer on the Sunday Magazine, and a national correspondent based in Pittsburgh. After returning to Philly from Pittsburgh I wrote a book, China Ghosts, about Chinese adoption.”

 The Pulitizer-winning series:

“In 2009 I had covered racial violence at South Philadelphia High School, and as the school-violence series developed, managed to get myself embedded at South Philly for the school year. My part of the series was writing about life at one of the city’s most dangerous schools. And again, how lucky, right? That the editors here would be willing to let a reporter devote months to that work. That the new principal was willing to open himself and his school to scrutiny.”

The best moment since winning the Pulitzer:

“Geez, there have been so many moments. The win gave everybody here a lift when we really needed one, and that was great. One personal highlight was that the principal at Myers Elementary School here announced on the loudspeaker that 3rd-grader Zhao Gu Gammage’s dad had won part of a Pulitzer — she came home floating on air, carried by the attention of her friends and teachers.”

Share/Bookmark

Social Media Butterfly, aka Stephanie Ogilvie, with Captain Classified from the Freelance Star in Fredericksburg.

The Virginia Press Associtaion’s annual meeting was held last weekend (April 20-21) at Hotel Roanoke. We published a story Sunday noting that journalists from The Roanoke Times/roanoke.com newsroom were recognized with 31 VPA awards, including eight first-place recognitions. If you missed it, click the link above to see a list of everyone who was recognized. I’ve posted a few of the judges comments about our below but you can read more here on the VPA Web site.

At the conclusion of the three-hour banquet, during which more than 1,000 awards were announced by veteran journalist Randy Jessee, we hosted a Superheroes of Journalism  party to celebrate the all of the winners from across the state and the work they produced. The party theme was the idea of our social media editor, Stephanie Ogilvie, who attended the banquet and the party in costume as a “Social Media Butterfly … fluttering through the hype.” You can see more photos from the party (taken by online projects editor Meg Martin who is soon leaving us) on Stephanie’s Tumblr blog. Thanks to the following newsrooms for helping to  pay for the party: The Virginian Pilot, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Lynchburg News & Advance, Freelance Star (Fredericksburg), The Washington Post, The Daily Press (Newport News) and The (Woodstock) Free Press.

As promised, a few of the judges’ comments about some of our award-winning work:

On our front page design (first place): “Eye-catching designs, not afraid to go big with a photo and use large type to throw readers into an inside page. Never a doubt what lead story is.”

On our breaking news coverage of the Virginia Tech police officer shooting (second place): “This news team knows to handle the big ones. Very solid reporting and clearly written; teems with information so nicely organized and balanced. Special kudos for the sidebars, especially the one on how the social media added noise but very little light.”

On our coverage of the Memorial Day shooting and investigation (first place, general news): “This team pulled together a raft of information in short order. And didn’t stop. Eventually it came out that the Sheriff might’ve been able to avert the killing of a woman and the shooting of an officer by following simple protocol. Great show of tenacity, clarity and focus.”

Share/Bookmark

Hometown: I’m one of a number of newsroom folks from Pittsburgh. (Go, Steelers! Go, Pens! Uh… Go, Bucs of Suckitude!)

College, major: I studied English at Dickinson College, the University of East Anglia and Penn State University.

Why journalism: I joke that I stumbled into journalism after reading a want ad for a news editor and applying on a lark. But looking back, it’s easy to trace a progression from delivering The Pittsburgh Press as a kid to editing the school paper in high school and college to making it a career. I’ve always loved being the first to know something and finding out why something happened, and I’m a sucker for good storytelling in any medium.

Years in journalism: 12.

Years at The Roanoke Times | roanoke.com: One and counting …

Other newsrooms where you have worked: I worked as an editor at the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., and as the national editor at The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina.

Proudest journalism accomplishments: On the mornings of Sept. 12, 2001, and Nov. 5, 2008, I arrived at work to find people lined up to buy newspapers that I’d helped produce the night before. That’s a pretty cool feeling.

Journalists you admire and why: One of the things I love about Twitter is that if you follow lots of interesting people, you’ll invariably end up with daily lists of great stories from across the Internet. I’ve discovered countless wonderful journalists this way, and my list seems to grow every day. I’ll read just about anything my former Observer colleague Tommy Tomlinson (@tommytomlinson) writes. I’ve also recently latched on to the work of a trio of amazing Tampa Bay Times writers, Ben Montgomery (@gangrey), Michael Kruse (@michaelkruse) and Lane DeGregory. I also seek out Hank Stuever and Steve Lopez and David Carr and Dana Priest and Leonard Pitts. And, for my money, the late Anthony Shadid was one of the best foreign correspondents in recent memory.

 I’m also a magazine junkie and love reading longer works by Joe Posnanski (@jposnanski), Chris Jones (@mysecondempire), Michael Lewis, Wright Thompson (@wrightthompson), Gary Smith, John McPhee, Charlie Pierce, Tad Friend, Atul Gawande, Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Paterniti – well, I could go on and on but I’ll stop there. And some of the best storytelling, I think, is being done right now on the radio, with shows such as “This American Life,” “Radiolab” and “The Moth.”

 I’ve been very fortunate to work with some great editors, too, including Cheryl Carpenter, John Arwood, Roger Mikeal, Patrick Scott, Reid Creager and Mike Gordon. And I’ve long admired editing standard-bearers such as Gene Foreman, John McIntyre (@johnemcintyre), Roy Peter Clark, John Walcott, Roy Gutman and Bill Walsh (@theslot).

Web sites you visit regularly: NYT.com sets the bar when it comes to online journalism. Grantland.com always seems to have something good to read. The New York Times’ Lens blog always has great photojournalism eye candy. Charles Apple’s blog is a must-read, especially for copy editors and visual journalists. And one of my favorite blogs lately is People I Want to Punch in the Throat; I think the title just about sums it up.

 Favorite books: “Catch-22,” “The Road,” “The Dog of the South,” “White Noise,” “Ulysses,” etc. And I was excited to learn upon moving to Roanoke that David Baldacci has a home on Smith Mountain Lake; I’m a sucker for his Camel Club books. I’ve just started the late Harry Crews’ memoir.

 Interests outside of work: I’m a band geek, playing euphonium, trombone and a handful of other instruments. A brood of animals at home also keeps me busy.

 Interesting fact about you that few know: A lifetime ago, I performed with the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps from Canton, Ohio.

Share/Bookmark

Just as she is hitting her five-year anniversary, Meg Martin will be leaving us to pursue a one-year project for American Public Media in St. Paul, Minn. (They bring you public radio biggies such as “Prairie Home Companion,” “Marketplace” and Jorge Valencia’s new employer, “The Story.”)

Meg came to us from Poynter in 2007 looking for a real-life newsroom experience. She got it beginning on her first day – April 16, 2007. From that intense day onward, she has devoted herself to building roanoke.com’s storytelling reputation through wild experiments like the TimesCast to award-winning work such as the “Legacy of the Flood.”

Just last week, the Society for News Design gave “special recognition” to roanoke.com in its annual awards. It’s hard not to read what the judges said without thinking of Meg’s influence on the site over the past five years:

“The Roanoke Times is emblematic of the challenges of a smaller community and team. Roanoke’s coverage may not be able to be as broad as national or international news organizations but it is deep within their community. The multimedia storytelling explores highly personal issues and forces viewers to confront issues that rarely surface in their daily lives.”

I asked Meg to describe her new job and, as you might expect, it’s not what you might consider a traditional journalism gig. Meg is excited about the frontiers she will once again cross:

I’ll officially be working for the Public Insight Network, which is a project of American Public Media, and I’ll be based in Saint Paul (at APM’s headquarters). I’ll be working under the direction of Jacqui  (Banaszynski, former trainer at The Roanoke Times and journalism legend), alongside a team of three reporters (http://theamericannow.tumblr.com/bios), all of whom are already beginning their reporting here, at Dispatches from the American Now: http://theamericannow.tumblr.com/.

 Our deepest thanks and best wishes go out to Meg as she leaves our mountains and

Meg Martin

heads north to lake country.

Share/Bookmark

Chase Purdy joined our newsroom April 6 to cover public safety issues in the Roanoke Valley. Having worked in Waynesboro a few years ago, Chase is already familiar with part of Western Virginia. You can follow him on Twitter @chasepurdy or e-mail him a story idea at chase.purdy@roanoke.com.

Hometown: Louisville, Ky.

College, major: Hillsdale College, English

Why journalism: I grew up with an overactive imagination and sense of curiosity that, together, seemed to form a natural inclination for writing. Joining my college newspaper, The Collegian, sealed the deal. I like to talk with people and learn about their lives. I relish the opportunity to find the common threads of humanity that connect people — even in the most mundane of circumstances. Everyone has a story, and I’d like to think I have a knack for finding them.

Years in journalism:  Three years as a full-time journalist.

Years at The Roanoke Times | roanoke.com:   This is my first year in Roanoke.

Other newsrooms where you have worked:  My first job was at The News Virginian in Waynesboro, Va., where I worked as a police and courts reporter. In May 2011 I moved to Lakeland, Fla. to serve as a general assignment reporter. Before those stints, I interned as a Pulliam Fellow at The Arizona Republic. I’ve also interned at the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. and The Toledo Free Press in Ohio.

Proudest journalism accomplishments:  Firstly, I consider it an accomplishment in and of itself to be selected and hired as a reporter for The Roanoke Times. This newspaper has a longstanding tradition of journalism excellence, and the chance to be a part of that history makes me feel humbled and proud. Aside from that, I was part of a two-man team to win a first-place American Press Managing Editors Award for work covering the Hispanic population in the Shenandoah Valley.

Journalists you admire and why:  Typically, I’ve found much to admire in the newsrooms I’ve joined, journalists so often come in an odd variety of personalities and strong talents. But on a national level, the people I follow on a regular basis include David Segal, Jeff Zeleny, David Carr, and others from The New York Times. I also look to that paper for the latest in videography (a form of journalism I’ve grown to enjoy a good deal) from people like Zena Barakat. Dai Sugano of the San Jose Mercury News also creates amazing video features worth looking into. Then there are the staples, such as Gay Talese, Ira Glass, Hunter S. Thompson and Edna Buchanan, people who’s work left lasting impressions as I’ve grown.

Web sites you visit regularly:  I start each morning by glancing through Twitter, Facebook and newspaper front pages from across the country at Newseum.com. I also make my way through the latest on the websites for The New York Times, The Roanoke Times, and the Courier-Journal (in Louisville). Outside of nerdy newspaper items, I follow online updates for the Chicago White Sox.

Favorite books:  “The Kingdom and the Power,” by Gay Talese; “The Corpse Had a Familiar Face,” by Edna Buchanan; the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling; “The Lord of the Rings,” by J.R.R. Tolkien; and “Mrs. Dalloway,” by Virginia Woolf. I also make it a top priority to read anything and everything by David Sedaris.

Interests outside of work:  While my level of expertise has plateaued over the years, I do enjoy juggling. I also like to run (normally 5Ks), try my hand at videography and graphic design, and drive aimlessly through cities and countryside in search of good spots to practice my photography.

Interesting fact about you that few know:  Two big fears: mold and aliens.

Share/Bookmark

Dan Casey

Congrats to metro columnist Dan Casey for winning the General Column Writing (Daily Circulation 1-100,000) category of the 2011 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for journalism.

Judges chose the winners from over 1,700 entries in categories covering print, radio, television and online, according to the release from the Society of Professional Journalists.. See all the winners and read the release here.

Dan has developed a strong connection with readers in his three years as the newsroom’s metro columnist. You can read more about him in this Q&A from 2009. You can also check out Dan’s blog and find an archive of his columns here.

Dan will be invited to attend the SPJ awards banquet July 20 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Share/Bookmark

Share/Bookmark