Periodical Staff Writing for External Audiences

CASE DISTRICTS I-IV

We received 29 entries for this category, across institutions ranging from a Christian academy to assorted colleges/universities/public/private, among them a smattering of Ivies and one Sister. Entries varied accordingly - not so much in the writing (most of which inhabited the fat middle around pretty good and of which more will be said shortly) - but in the way each selection of five stories attempted to represent the magazine's mission. While some entries were simply five feature stories or alumni profiles packaged together, others provided pieces that had appeared across feature wells and departments, including short profiles, news stories and editors' columns.

This split in no way simplified the task of the judges, who were in agreement that certain shortcomings detracted from many of the entries, as follow:

• Stories that were too long and stories that were waaaaaay too looooong. Features routinely ran to eight or 10 pages. One reached the heroic length of 18. The New Yorker can't even get away with so much text - at least not all the time. Why the lust to kill trees and perpetrate typescript?
• Some entries had one or two extremely strong features, with the remainder apparently thrown in to fill the five-story requirement. Not a winning approach. A tangential problem was with the stories that made intrepid solo appearances, apparently under the impression that they were applying to be Best Articles of the Year.
• Many of the stories fell short of realizing the potential in their subject matter. This is ever a hazard of our profession, in part because of the pressure to soft-pedal material and not upset anyone with discomforting facts and perspectives, but also due to the soporific, Lorelei influence of having a captive audience and a staff position with health insurance. Certain entries, though left in the outer circle of non-winning entries, did draw the admiration of our judges including work by staff at Tufts, Duke, Georgetown and UT Austin.
• Failed uploads did much for the workload. Yay! Fully a third of the entries that were supposed to be on the CASE Web site were AWOL for online reading and download. Read the instructions, people!

More happily, our judges were able to concur on the following recipients, as described below.

Gold Medal

Columbia University - Columbia

• The judges were unanimous in the verdict that this one had it all - compelling writing in optimal volume and on great subjects, which ranged from virtuoso pianist Emanuel Ax, to the student uprising of 1968, to why people are in denial about global warming. Copy struck that elusive balance between an intimate relationship with what Columbia is and what Columbia does and the wider appeal to an educated readership. Layouts were varied and alluring - nicely done illustrations, great photographs.

Silver Medal

Auburn University - Auburn Magazine

• Admiration for a deft, creative approach to feature stories - both in writing and layout - propelled Auburn to recognition for its tales from the divers fronts of World War II and the millennial classroom, its charmingly illustrated summer fun guide, its juicy alumni profile detailing the rise and fall and rise of Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity. And what reader could resist a pink-tongued black Lab, even one whose job is sniffing bombs? Not we.

Bronze Medal

Yale University - Yale Alumni Magazine

• Of the three winning entries, Yale's varied the most boldly - from a fond little item about the university's "Long Cheer" tradition, to a gutsy editorial about one student's very controversial and very yucky art project, to a delightfully illustrated re-imagining of the dinosaur mural in the university's hallowed Peabody Museum of Natural History. The capper, though, was the tale of another dinosaur - the clubby/pubby/Yalie Mory's and how this "bastion of the old-boy Old Blues is struggling to stay afloat." Fun - though hardly for Mory's, which got around to letting women join in 1972 but has seen its membership base erode anyway, alas, and may soon be driven to the desperate measure of improving its food.

CASE DISTRICTS V-VIII

Among the 20 entries submitted, consistency was the biggest issue holding most back from being medal contenders. "It's surprising how few schools had five knockout articles," noted one judge at the end of the day. "While a few entries had one or two ‘A's, the others were ‘B's' or ‘C's," noted another judge.

The judges took careful note of each magazine's stated mission, budget, and staffing. Big budgets and staffing didn't necessarily translate into strong entries. "Some magazines do great work with very little, while others do bad work for a lot," observed one judge.

If there was one overall weakness in the entries beyond lack of consistency it was "the predictability factor"-story choices devoid of distinctiveness, and take-no-chances execution that lacked the narrative tension so vital for keeping readers hooked until the end.

Gold Medal

University of Wisconsin-Madison, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Grow

• "Astonishingly good!" enthused one judge. "Really great storytelling!" noted another. The entire panel was impressed by this magazine's ability to make the life sciences accessible and appealing to a wide-ranging audience.
  The five articles in Grow's entry included a piece about corn breeding that uniformly earned rave reviews. "I couldn't put it down," was a commonly expressed sentiment. Likewise, a story that dealt with the issues surrounding genetic disease testing was praised for its "excellent and intimate reporting." Overall, Grow's entry stood out for its great story choice, strong writing, and skillful editing.

Silver Medal

Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Medicine

• The entry included a range of styles and story approaches-from first person to more "hard science" medical reporting-that were all successfully executed. "The writing showed great command of the topics, which made for an effortless read," noted one judge. "There's some real storytelling going on here-great management of dramatic tension," observed another.