Padilla set out to follow the recovery of Jeff May, one of the victims of the Red Lake school shootings — but found little narrative there. So Padilla and his editor, Laurie Hertzel, shifted the focus to Jeff’s brother, Shane, … Read more
In this first-person piece, we liked the wealth of dialogue, rich scenes, vivid characters and satisfying narrative arc. Darr uses a familiar structure: She starts the piece with the moment just before the climax of the narrative, then goes back … Read more
This 7-part series’ strengths, it seems to us, are first, its ability to keep readers wondering, its handling of suspense. (Notice the suspenseful section endings in particular.) Second, the series persuasively links a particular narrative to larger social themes. One … Read more
We admire this piece for the way its tone and content match its protagonist’s own qualities. Elizabeth Balraj is the exacting and dignified coroner of Cuyahoga County. Long’s writing, too, is precise and composed. We like the considered attention to … Read more
This series was written and reported by Anh Do and Teri Sforza. We admired the masterful blend of emotional material—the boy’s and his family’s experience of separation, loss—with engaging explications of Buddhist traditions and belief. The piece also rightly emphasizes … Read more
We liked this piece because it’s well written—good verbs, vivid scenes—and because it applies narrative to a complicated sociological subject: the internationalization of a formerly fairly homogeneous community. LaForgia gets at that dynamic by portraying the life of a single … Read more
Two children were killed and two injured in a hit-and-run accident. This series tells, in long form, the story of two women—the mother of the children and the young woman who hit them—and the defense lawyer who took the case … Read more