America's Best Newspaper Writing: A Collection of ASNE Prizewinners » (2nd Edition)

ROY PETER CLARK and CHRISTOPHER SCANLAN are both working journalists and teachers at the Poynter Institute, a world-renowned journalism school that gives writing, reporting, and editing seminars to thousands of media professionals each year. Both have helped in developing the annual Distinguished Writing Awards competition, and have chosen the stories in this book, making a collection that is truly the "best-of-the-best."

America's Best Newspaper Writing represents the "best-of-the-best" from 25 years of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) Distinguished Writing Awards competition. With an emphasis on local reporting, new stories including more on crisis coverage, and pedagogical tools to help students become better writers, the second edition is the most useful and up-to-date anthology available for feature writing and introduction to journalism classes.

1. Deadline Writing
Richard Ben Cramer, Report from the Mideast: Shiva for a Child Slain in a Palestinian Raid
*Leonora Bohen LaPeter, Jury Sends Santa Claus Killer to Electric Chair
David Von Drehle, Men of Steel Are Melting With Age
Francis X. Clines, In Belfast, Death, Too, Is Diminished by Death

2. Local Reporting and Beats
Rick Bragg, All She Has, $150,000, Is Going to a University
Thomas Boswell, Losing It: Careers Fall Like Autumn Leaves
Jonathan Bor, It Fluttered and Became Bruce Murray's Heart
Mitch Albom, Mackenzie Football Star Another Gunplay Victim
*Russell Eshleman, Even for Trees, Age Could Have Its Privileges
*Russell Eshleman, Domino's Bites Back at Tax
*Dan Neil, Caught Up in the Crossfire

3. Obituaries and Funerals
Tom Shales, Ray Bolger, The Immortal Scarecrow
Jim Nicholson, Edward E. 'Ace' Clark, Ice and Coal Dealer
Jim Nicholson, Tastykake Retiree Marie Byrne

4. Crime and Courts
*Cathy Frye, Caught in the Web: Evil at the Door
Linnet Myers, Humanity on Trial
Anne Hull, Metal to Bone: Day 1: Click

5. Business Reporting and Explanatory Journalism
William E. Blundell, The Life of a Cowboy: Drudgery and Danger
Peter Rinearson, Making It Fly: Designing the 757
Michael Gartner, Property Tax Exemptions: Legal But Terribly Unfair

6. Opinion and Persuasion
Murray Kempton, Woman Burned While Police Had Their Danish
Richard Aregood, Tugs at the Curtain But the Wizard's Lips Remain Frozen
Donna Britt, A One-Word Assault on Women
*Bailey Thomson, The Two Alabamas
*Cynthia Tucker, Abernathy Allies: Kings Defend Rogue Who Sullied Famed Name
*Andrew H. Malcolm, A Thesaurist Leaves, Exits
*Leonard Pitts, Second Thoughts Following NY Verdict

7. The Profile and Feature Story
Cynthia Gorney, Dr. Seuss: Wild Orchestrator of Plausible Nonsense for Kids
Saul Pett, Koch Grabs Big Apple and Shakes It
*Mirta Ojito, Havana Journal: A Sentimental Journey to La Casa of Childhood
David Finkel, For Lerro, Skyway Nightmare Never Ends
*Tommy Tomlinson, A Beautiful Find
Blaine Harden, Life, Death, and Corruptionon an African Mainstream
Ken Fuson, Ah, What a Day!

8. Terrorism, War, and Disasters
*Bryan Gruley, Nation Stands in Disbelief and Horror
*Steve Lopez, Amid the Ruins, a Separate Peace
Mark Fritz, Only Human Wreckage Is Left in Karubamba
*Anthony Shadid, A Boy Who Was Like a Flower
*Richard Zahler, 1,200 Feet of St. Helens Tossed to the Wind
*Jim Dwyer, Fighting for Life 50 Floors Up, with One Tool and Ingenuity

9. The Classics
*Harold A. Littledale, Prisoners with Midnight in Their Hearts
*William Allen White, Mary White
*Lorena A. Hickok, Iowa Village Waits All Night for Glimpse at Fleeting Train
Richard Wright, Joe Louis Uncovers Dynamite
Dorothy Thompson, Mr. Welles and Mass Delusion
Ernie Pyle, The Death of Captain Henry Waskow
Marvel Cooke, From The Bronx Slave Market
Red Smith, Miracle of Coogan's Bluff
Meyer Berger, About New York
Gene Patterson, A Flower for the Graves

10. The Craft of Writing Great Stories
The Building Blocks of the Story The Language of Journalism Writing to Inform, Writing to Engage Making Hard Facts Easy Reading

11. The Ethics of Non-Fiction Writing

* new to this edition