Nell Lake

Kruse drove with a minor league baseball player from New York State to Florida for Spring training. The player, Alex Trezza, lives his life around baseball, but his chances of…

This is a six-part series about an alternative school for struggling kids in Essex County, N.J. The piece gets close to kids whom others might dismiss—just as the school does.…

Mark Sheppard is an ordinary guy who took a job that he felt was his calling: He helps people—most of them with special needs—learn how to navigate their world by…

Dick Cheney’s 2004 campaign has denied Lyman a seat on Air Force Two, so he hopscotches around the country by commercial plane, trying to keep up.It’s a case in which…

This six-part narrative is now a classic, instructive for its solid structure, rounded characters and close reporting.Notice the ways that Zuckoff weaves medical background and the details of Naia’s case…

How did Lewan make this piece so compelling? Of course, the event is made for narrative. But notice how it’s told: the relentlessly active verbs—the ship teeters and plunges, the…

When Bill Adair e-mailed us this piece, he wrote, “It’s an instant narrative. Just add water.” The action, tension, suspense—they’re ready-made.We notice the effective use of team reporting, which enables…

How many leads can you think of that focus on smell? We admire the first seven paragraphs of this piece. They’re evocative, authoritative and efficient. Kiernan told an audience at…

In the series of which this piece is a part, the Times used narrative and insightful reporting to uncover the often hidden ways that race is “lived” in America.Egan writes…

This is a long-term narrative that shows the asymmetrical courses taken by former business partners—one black, one white—after selling their company. The story traces not just the defining moments of…