Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Wisconsin State Journal Entry Title: Madison-area nursing homes under fire after 'immediate jeopardy' citations Entry Credit: David Wahlberg Judge Comment: The topic of nursing home abuse and violations is painfully important and will only increase in impact as Baby Boomers age into the morass. This three-part entry—a well-crafted main bar and two insightful sidebars—speaks mostly to one key question: Are fines and regulations enough to fix the problems? The excrutiating answer is no. This award-winning team is encouraged to stay on the topic and focus their energies on reporting meaningful solutions wherever they lie. The main story opens and closes with the circumstances around the sad death of a 90-year-old man and his distraught daughter ("I had warned them"), then provides this depressing closer: "His death resulted in no regulatory action." One sidebar details nursing home violations, the other adds, "Nearly 2 dozen nursing homes have closed in Wisconsin since 2020." What to do? Readers are left with feelings of outrage and hopelessness. William Randolph Hearst said every good story has a victim, a villain and a hero. Here's hoping your next tale can highlight a hero.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Green Bay Press-Gazette Entry Title: Tom Monfils died 30 years ago at a paper mill in Green Bay. His death still casts a shadow over the city Entry Credit: Kelli Arseneau Judge Comment: Sherlock Holmes is 140 years older than this amazing 30-year retrospective on a papermill death. But this award-winning whodunit shares all the twists and turns of a good murder mystery—even if it was truly a suicide, as suspected by the victim's brother. A main character in this tale is the community-that-won't-forget of Green Bay, where six men were convicted in the death of a co-worker with only one—the prime suspect—remaining alive and in prison. Another character is the criminal justice system itself and why it cannot be totally trusted. This is a remarkable piece of writing and editing that pulls the reader along mostly in a chronology that helps to make the complicated case less complicated to understand. One buried gem is the family was awarded a $2 million settlement against the police department in 1997 for a death that occurred in 1992. Kudos to the photo, research and multimedia staff, too. Keep hunting for the truth! This is a gift that can keep on giving.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Green Bay Press-Gazette Entry Title: Bird not seen in Wisconsin for 178 years spotted in Green Bay nature area Entry Credit: Jeff Bollier Judge Comment: This is a timely, well-written and -reported brightener that touches on a topic that has become ever more important since the pandemic—birdwatching. The focus of attention was a roseate spoonbill, a live one, not the dead one last seen in Wisconsin in 1845 for goodness' sake. An editor skipped over revising the wise attempt to provide pronunciation of roseate (ROW-zee-uht, or something like that). Remember the cardinal (not the bird) rule of capitalizing one syllable for emphasis. This was an excellent way to find the local angle on Hurricane Idalia, though I guess no one was willing to say exactly what was the cause of this "huge" event. The story provided a much-needed dose of humor in these dark times, as it was fun to see how crazy people can get about a bird. Well-done! A salute to your writing, editing and photo team.
