ABM
“Year of the Editor”
Northwestern University
Medill School of Journalism
Sept. 17, 2003
Panel Session:
How To Win An Editorial Award
--panelist Brian Ward
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Jesse H. Neal
National Business Journalism Awards
(FER results 1997-2003)
• 2002 Finalist—Suiting Up For The Energy Battle (best
subject-related series)
• 2000 Finalist—1999 Chain Construction Forecast (best
single article)
• 1999 Finalist—Tech Reports (best subject-related series)
• 1998 Semi-Finalist—September 1997 issue (best issue)
• 1998 Certificate—Kitchen/Unit Design (best department)
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Who Are You Writing For,
Anyway?
• Readers or Judges?
– Different editors will give different answers to this one.
You can produce good stories for readers that judges
won’t score highly. You can write award-winning
stories that forsake the reader. But why would you?
– In our case, we believe that if we build it for the
reader, the judges will come, too (at least part of the
time).
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Why This Topic, This Way?
•“Actionable” vs. General Information
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Get Attention!
• Lively Language, Lively Visuals
– You’re competing with other trade magazines, your
reader’s favorite newsstand items, other media and
all kinds of other distractions. You’re fighting for
attention. So fight.
• Move Quickly To Specifics
– Readers are busy; so are judges.
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Service To The Reader
• Facts & Analysis
– Don’t just deliver facts; do some analysis. Deliver a
context; show relationships between facts.
• Info The Reader Can Apply To His Job
– Is this info that can change how the reader does his
job? Or is it just interesting background?
• Tell The Reader How To Use It
– Come right out and tell the reader—early on--why he
should care about what you’re about to teach him.
(This works for judges, too.)
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Journalistic Enterprise
• Knowing Where To Dig
– Are you delivering a specialized package of info that
cannot be found elsewhere?
• Digging Deeply
– Did you really get at the core, and did you analyze it?
• Original Research
– Always good
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Editorial Craft
• Story Structure
– The Importance Of Thesis
• Whatever your point is, say it directly—ideally in one
sentence, high up in the story. The reader’s time-pressed.
– Logical Flow: Macro To Micro, Chronological Or…
• Don’t jump around. Your reader’s too busy to sniff out the
trail. So are the judges.
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Editorial Craft
• Writing Style
– Short Sentences, Long Sentences
• An unbroken rhythm puts people to sleep. Keep ‘em awake.
– Verbs That DO Something
• If you’re using a state-of-being verb, you’re likely wasting a
whole sentence. Don’t do that.
– A Tone Of Familiarity
• Outside of lawyers and doctors, who actually prefers
stuffiness? Your readers like their jobs well enough to do
them for a living. Have fun with the subject material.
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A Closing Note On The
Entry Form
• Rule One—Think like a judge when writing your entry
description blurb. You don’t get points for all-around
wonderfulness. You get points for the stated judging
criteria. So keep those criteria in mind while fashioning
your explanation of significance-to-reader.
• Rule Two—Sell—but don’t oversell—the story in your
entry description. If your story fails to deliver on any part
of your promise, the judges will catch it.
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• As Forrest Gump might say, “Ay-und thay-ut’s awl Ah
have tuh say uh-bout thay-ut.”
• Thank You.
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