Coverage of the war in Iraq, now in its fifth year, always runs the risk of reader fatigue. Daily headlines swim in the wake of militaries and militias. But with “Anguish in the Ruins of Mutanabi Street,” Sudarsan Raghavan manages … Read more
Second-day disaster stories, or eighth-day disaster stories, often merely tote up possessions damaged and lives lost. Not so with “The Answers in the Wind,” in which Washington Post reporter Tamara Jones details the aftermath of the tornado that obliterated Greensburg, … Read more
Finkel shows his knack, once again, for crafting newspaper stories with a writerly, particularly human point of view. He doesn’t just write technically compelling scenes; he lets his readers in on irony, wryness, attitude. We see the stance as daring, … Read more
We admired the cinematic quality of this piece. Raghavan moves his lens from image to image, providing vivid concrete detail, at times moving in close, at other times stepping back for a wider view. We liked that he establishes the … Read more
"The archbishop’s wedding made headlines around the world," Manseau e-mailed us, "but it struck me that no one had really attempted to tell his story in a personal, engaging way. So I gave it a shot." It’s a … Read more
This is a great example of linking a deeply personal experience to a larger social issue, or in this case to social history. Latimer traces her mother’s fear of showing affection to her institutionalization during the 1950s for tuberculosis. Latimer … Read more
This is an exceptional story: We notice the wealth of detail, reporting. We admire the efficiency of pace, of sentences, of movement from one event to another. We admire the varied sentence lengths, e.g.: “‘It should all be good now,’ … Read more
Saslow recounts Hixon’s injury, hospitalization and quest to find a new career. He moves between flashbacks and present-time narrative, changing tenses to help demarcate sections. The piece is a nice example of often-popular stories with the theme of triumph over … Read more
This is a retrospective narrative, part history and part where-they-are-now. It’s an important and difficult story to tell. Difficult, it seems to us, because of its complexity and nuance. Mundy takes on both the task of filling us in on … Read more
We first read this reconstruction during the year following the 9/11 attacks. We found it difficult to read for its level of detail, its emotional content. Rereading it, we admire the clarity of structure, the way Maraniss bookends the piece … Read more
