Storytelling prize season wound down last night with the presentation of the National Magazine Awards, the Pulitzers of the American magazine world. Texas Monthly’s Pamela Colloff took the “Ellie” for her two-part narrative series on a man wrongly imprisoned for 25 years in the violent death of his wife. “The Innocent Man” topped stories from Byliner, GQ, Mother [...]
Tag Archives: Pulitzer Prize
Annotation Tuesday! Eli Saslow and the family con
April 30, 2013 – 8:48 am
A top reporter and storyteller, Eli Saslow was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing two weeks ago for his story about a struggling swimming pool salesman.Today, in the latest installment of our Annotation Tuesday! series, we’re looking at another of Saslow’s pieces, one that he wrote for ESPN The Magazine, about Rumeal Robinson, a former University [...]
Prize storytelling: The 2013 Pulitzers
April 26, 2013 – 8:40 am
At some point, we’ll round up some of the better deadline storytelling from the past two weeks’ historic news out of Boston and Texas and Washington, D.C., and Mississippi and Cambridge and Watertown, but let’s end the week on a positive note, by remembering the great work of this year’s recently announced Pulitzer winner and finalists. In the features category, John Branch of the [...]
Inside “Snow Fall,” the New York Times multimedia storytelling sensation
March 29, 2013 – 8:24 am
“Snow Fall,” the widely celebrated New York Times multimedia narrative on a deadly avalanche in Washington State, won a Peabody this week for being “a spectacular example of the potential of digital-age storytelling.” The project packaged a six-part story by Pulitzer finalist John Branch, accompanied by interactive graphics, video and character bios of the expert skiers and [...]
Building your canon: Small-scale narrative
March 1, 2013 – 8:24 am
Narrative isn’t synonymous with long-form work. A narrative journalist doesn’t need thousands of words or loads of reporting and writing time to tell a memorable story. For you hunter-gatherers of short-form models, consider: W.C. Heinz’s “Death of a Racehorse.” At 963 words, it is one of the most glorious short narratives ever written. A glimpse: [...]
Work the problem: How to look at your own stories more objectively
February 14, 2013 – 6:40 am
Our storytelling advice column continues: A journalist asks a question and we find an accomplished narrative writer or editor to answer it. In our first installment, Dave Tarrant of the Dallas Morning News had a question about how to recognize stories with narrative potential. Jack Hart, author of Storycraft, gave him the answer. Today’s players: Robert [...]
Work the problem: “How do you prospect for narrative beyond the obvious?”
January 25, 2013 – 9:44 am
This is the inaugural installment of Work the Problem, a storytelling advice column featuring everyday craft quandaries and a roving band of narrative sages. Today’s players: >Dave Tarrant, reporter, Dallas Morning News >Jack Hart, former Oregonian editor and author of Storycraft Tarrant is on the enterprise and projects team, where he started in 1984 as a [...]
Reporting and writing “Never Let Go” — inside Kelley Benham French’s remarkable series
January 24, 2013 – 9:54 am
Kelley Benham French’s “Never Let Go,” about the extremely premature birth of her daughter, Juniper, was included in Storyboard’s Best of Narrative list for 2012, and our final Notable Narrative of the year. The five-part series ran last month in the Tampa Bay Times. French’s colleague and close friend Ben Montgomery spoke with her recently about the story. [...]
What he gave: Richard Ben Cramer
January 11, 2013 – 8:25 am
When Richard Ben Cramer died Monday, at 62, of lung cancer, the outpouring of grief and gratitude began immediately. It’s hard to find a narrative journalist or a serious political writer that Cramer didn’t influence with What It Takes: The Way to the White House, his 1,047-page saga of the 1988 presidential race, or with [...]
