Multimedia Winner of the Year

I rarely have a visceral reaction to pieces of journalism or life in general, but the coverage provided by RockyMountainNews.com about the lives of Marine casualty assistance officers opened the waterworks. Perhaps the subject matter provided the optimal setting for my emotions, but the ways in which the stories of the families and Marines were presented were wonderfully detailed and fantastically composed. The first portion of the coverage I viewed was the text article written by Jim Sheeler, and although it was a very lengthy piece, I never tired of reading it. The way in which Sheeler segmented his article into chronological progressions coupled with insightful flashbacks made for a format rich in interest and gripping in description. Sheeler's depictions of the people involved in the story were so accurate that when I finally moved on to the visual part of the piece, I saw people on the screen nearly identical to those Sheeler had helped me visualize in my mind. In addition, the measured inclusion of both the positive and negative aspects of the circumstances surrounding the position of casualty assistance officers and the effectiveness of their work helped to make a story which could easily be labeled as biased to the right into a piece of balanced journalism. Needless to say, after reading the article, I felt that I had a better understanding of truly excellent writing and was inspired to really challenge myself to push harder for depth in the future. 

The audio slideshow, with it's stark photographs and first-hand audio brought me even deeper into the lives of the people I had just read about. The fact that the RockyMountainNews.com chose to concentrate strictly on the voices of those involved and leave any professional narration out gives, in my opinion, the best view possible into the story. It is our duty as journalists to bring people the news they need and explain the complex situations of our lives to citizens in balanced and clear ways, but the pictures and audio included in the coverage here leave little for journalists to clarify that cannot be deciphered by the human condition alone.