'Copter crash coverage honored

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The staff of the paper earned a first place in the Continuing Coverage category for "Life-saving copter flight ends in tragedy," reporting on the medevac helicopter crash in September that claimed the lives of four people.

"Outstanding staff reporting from start to finish. From the four stories when the story broke to the final piece, the coverage was in-depth and engaging. The Maryland Independent staff mixed hard news reporting with great writing to tell this tragic story," the judges wrote of the series of articles.

Staff writer Sara K. Taylor garnered two awards. She earned second place in the Feature Story category for her story, "Gang of Two: Grandparents see U.S. on a Harley," about a Port Tobacco couple who took a nearly four-month motorcycle tour of the United States. Another story, "Moms look to hook bookworms," about Mocha Moms, a support group for stay-at-home mothers of color, and a reading program they sponsored, earned second place in the Education category.

Alan Brody earned a second-place award in Local Government reporting for "At least a triple for Pennsylvania baseball teams," a story about minor league baseball teams in York and Lancaster, Pa., in the run-up to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs' inaugural season in Waldorf.

In the Sports Story category, staff writers Dallas Cogle and James A. McCray III won first place for "A Major League performance." The judges wrote, "Writers benefitted from a great opportunity — local boy makes well. But, they hit a home run with it. Good job of using quotes from both player and mother." The story was about Daryl Thompson, a La Plata High School graduate who had made his Major League baseball debut with the Cincinnati Reds.

Sports Editor Paul Watson took a second place in Sports Page Design for "Inaugurating a stadium justly."

Staff writer Nancy Bromley McConaty earned a second-place award in the Medical/Science category for her story, "Number of doctors dwindles," about the doctor shortage in Southern Maryland.

The Independent competes in the nondaily over 20,000 circulation division.

The MDDC Editorial Contest is designed to recognize editorial excellence in the newspapers of Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. The contest features 38 categories. Complete results and more comments from judges are available at www.mddcpress.com.