Narrative News

Go behind the scenes of four 2020 George Polk Award winners

Go behind the scenes of four 2020 George Polk Award winners

The George Polk Awards were established 73 years ago to honor George Polk, a CBS correspondent who was killed while covering the civil war in Greece. They now rank among…
February 26, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
A Black reporter sets off on a journey of "My Country"

A Black reporter sets off on a journey of “My Country”

It’s been just over two years since we wrote about Tyrone Beason, then a Seattle Times columnist who had fallen out of love with the city as its tech-fueled growth…
February 19, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Sharpen your narrative journalism skills in 2021 at these writers’ conferences

Sharpen your narrative journalism skills in 2021 at these writers’ conferences

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was updated on June 1, 2021, with new information. Changes or additions are highlighted.If you’re feeling stalled and rusty in your writing, you’re far from alone.…
February 17, 2021
Madeline Bodin
"We start with more questions than answers..."

“We start with more questions than answers…”

The retirement of newspaper editors is usually the stuff of insider industry news. Occasionally one breaks through to merit attention far more broadly.Martin Baron is one of those. The announcement…
January 27, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
An imperfectly perfect photo that honored content over style

An imperfectly perfect photo that honored content over style

By now, you’ve no doubt seen a few dozen — or several thousand — of the creative memes featuring Bernie’s Chair. Or is it properly thought of as Bernie’s Mittens?…
January 26, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
America's first hip-hop inaugural poem ties history to the present, optimism to urgency

America’s first hip-hop inaugural poem ties history to the present, optimism to urgency

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of two posts today analyzing the power of the presidential inaugural poem delivered Jan. 20, 2020, by Amanda Gorman, and reflecting on its place in…
January 21, 2021
Lisa Grace Lednicer
A reporter's search for "lost history" becomes a best-selling book

A reporter’s search for “lost history” becomes a best-selling book

Worthy books are released almost every day. No doubt more than a few authors bemoaned the publication of their hard work this past year, when so much of the world’s…
January 13, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Fifty years of Robert Caro's reporting notes going public

Fifty years of Robert Caro’s reporting notes going public

Oh, to study those yellowed pages, with words pecked by a typewriter, then crossed out and scribbled over and typed on more pages. To marvel at those scrapbooks — more…
January 12, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
The path to excellence: Hard thinking, constant worry and "lunch-pail labor"

The path to excellence: Hard thinking, constant worry and “lunch-pail labor”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Storyboard can’t, alas, run tributes to every fine and influential journalist or journalism educator who dies. But some tributes do more than honor an individual at his passing…
May 7, 2020
Walt Harrington
Congratulations to the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners

Congratulations to the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners

There are awards upon awards in journalism. But since its launch in 1917, the Pulitzer Prizes have set the gold standard for newspaper reporting, writing, commentary, photography and more. The…
May 4, 2020
Jacqui Banaszynski