Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Dallas College - Eastfield Entry Title: Dynamic duo Entry Credit: Sean Stroud Judge Comment: Very polished. Good storytelling from strong interviews. and a clear line of development with good transition and insightful direct quotations.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Dallas College - Eastfield Entry Title: Soccer preview Entry Credit: Sean Stroud Judge Comment: Good story angle that's well-developed.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: A&M-Kingsville Entry Title: TAMUK cheer heads to Florida Entry Credit: Zena Desouza Judge Comment: Good advance for a sport oft-overlooked.
Competition Comment: The winners in this contest were enjoyable reads because of their polish. In several others, it was clear the journalists had dug for useful information but but their efforts will much improve with more attention to storytelling detail: deeper dives into the interviews they do conduct, more clear lines of development, particularly in the setup of direct quotes. In several stories, there too little transition to set up the direct quote or even an identification of the speaker until the end of a lengthy multi-sentence quote. If the journalists will summarize or imply the speaker's perspective before launching into a lengthy quote, it will make for much more enlightened reading.
Also, most sports journalists are sports fans, but the journalists need to be reminded to keep their cheerleading in tow.
