This is an effective and persuasive coming-of-age tale. It’s persuasive in part because it’s not entirely a story of triumph. Shawn McDonald struggles and rails against losses along with his team—but in the end he grows and learns and emerges … Read more
This narrative follows the efforts of one woman to help her son, a 10-year-old with progeria, a disease that causes rapid aging and early death. The mother is also a doctor; she’s a compelling character, and her quest to find … Read more
This elegiac piece is at once memoir and a tribute to both DeSilva’s own father and his generation. It poses a mystery, draws readers in with it and resolves it, with grace and elegance. We admired the structural clarity of … Read more
This story about the construction of Boston’s new Institute of Contemporary Art building is a good example of involving readers in an overarching narrative, covering a lot of ground in relatively short space. It’s the kind of topic a paper … Read more
Getlen wants us readers to consider—and really, to be persuaded—that competitive eating is just as much a sport as football. We weren’t convinced, but Getlen makes an interesting case. He drew us into a strange world—in which eating 50 hotdogs … Read more
This story received the AAAS best science writing award in 2006 for newspapers and appears in Best Science Writing 2007, edited by Gina Kolata. It’s a fine example of both matching hard science and human narrative and using strong writing … Read more
This is one of those stories that makes us believe all over again in journalism, in its power to bring truth to light. Pasternak’s use of narrative in certain chapters of the piece makes suffering real. These scenes and characters … Read more
This is a good one for the religion file. It’s a big quote-heavy, narratively speaking, but the voice is quietly companionable, intelligent, sympathetic but detached—a good narrative voice. Writing for a Buddhist magazine, Swick is clearly oriented toward his particular … Read more
We liked Pierce’s breezy, almost jazzy tone in this piece, the ways she reaches out to her readers. We found some language a bit hard to follow, but overall enjoyed the ride—and learned more about Kerouac along the way. Read … Read more
[Editor’s Note: These comments are adapted from a talk given by Michael Pollan at the 2006 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism.] Book by book, project by project, it’s usually hard to say who you are as a writer or what … Read more