Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Daily News Entry Title: Tapping into area beer gardens; Sliding into the heat of summer; Winter weather or not Entry Credit: Dan Muckelbauer Judge Comment: Three strong feature headlines, or more precisely 1-2 punches, as compelling visuals combine with the big type to stop readers and deliver clever messages. The play on "whether or not" works well with a story about the hit-or-miss winter weather conditions, "Tap" and "sprout" hit the mark for beer gardens. The big winner was "Sliding into the heat of summer" with a great photo
the verb "glisten" in the subhed. Well done!
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: The Cap Times Entry Title: Cap Times headlines Entry Credit: Rob Thomas Judge Comment: The big winner was the play on "goooaaalll" to sell the story about the soccer-themed theatrical production. The story's opening put the emphasis on authenticity, so the headline writer scored on this one. The twist on "period piece" with an exclamation point worked well. The headline might have benefited by adding 'Emily.' The pocket-sized loom story was so interesting that the stretch on "weave" wasn't necessary. The brand Hello! Loom is tricky enough, as it can be read as Hello! (end of sentence) and Loom as beginning of the next statement. Therein lies the danger of a double-take. Nonetheless, we admire the effort! It's always better to rein in a headline writer than beg for creativity.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Freeman Entry Title: Shine of the times; Step out in the style of the Emerald Isle; Don’t monkey around on taking winter trip to zoo Entry Credit: Dan Muckelbauer Judge Comment: The big winner was "Shine of the times," a nice twist of a cliche that speaks to car washes on the rise. O' how we wished there was only one o' in the St. Pat's headline. Maybe "with the Irish" was a better third line for the readout. Seems like the story's lede and one photo were begging for a "Wake up with the Irish" or some other play on "Flanagan's Wake." For the zoo story, it was a nice touch to connect the big type to the secondary photo of the monkeys. The phrase "Don't monkey around" takes a "with," not so much an "on." Maybe a dash could have helped, something like: "Don't monkey/around—take a/winter trip to zoo." All around good work! Our best to your headline writers!
