Pulitzer review

For purposes of this exercise, I'll focus on the Pulitzer Prize won by the Chicago Sun-Times for local reporting after the series that they produced looking into crime in Chicago. After scanning and reading all of the stories and looking at some of the photographs, so many different aspects jumped out at me – and above all else, that is a huge part of winning a Pulitzer Prize. Many organizations are able to produce stories that are gripping once or in one area, but these stories were focused on a wide variety of topics, but honed in masterfully on the Windy City and some of the major problems that Chicago is facing.

The stories that sticks out most were the two about people in this culture not wanting to ‘snitch’ and tell police who some of the criminals were despite knowing who they were. The best one, which looked at one boy who was shot and as he way dying, a police officer asked who shot him to which he replied “I ain’t telling you s**t.” The personal story that this piece had is something that I remember and I think that is one of the best compliments that a story can have – it was memorable.

The crime that takes place in a large city like Chicago is newsworthy for some many reasons. But the Sun-Times went about it a different way and was rewarded for that. They benefited local readers with stories that the local readers actually cared about. In the package that won the award, it seemed like there were numerous cosmic moments. There was the line of the boy that wouldn’t talk to police. There was the line that all of the shooters from a giant shoot-up escaped charges. This package encompassed so many things which is really what drove the project to be so good.

While the stories didn’t necessarily follow a different style, they certainly carried a more relaxed voice and feel to them. For example, one story opens up with the words “This is the story of … “ That seems like an odd and ultra relaxed lead, but with this project, the writer made it work. The biggest thing, though, that took this series to the next level, was how close the writers and photographers were able to get to every aspect of this crime scene in a large cities. They followed police, doctors and families. The Sun-Times did an outstanding job with this project reporting on the local news that Chicago residents want to read.

Chillin'

We pride ourselves on plenty here in the newsroom, but something I feel particularly competitive about during the long hours in MUB 156 is my ability to select the most appropriate tune on YouTube to keep myself and my fellow news, design, sports and executive editors motivated.

True- we sometimes disagree on things around here. Some of us like country (ugh). Some of us like old school rap. Some of us are too indie to function (content editor Amanda Beland also DJ's for WUNH). Some of us are really, really, ridiculously obsessed with the new Mike Posner song.

Okay, that last one was me- but it's only because I have a crush on Mike Posner.

But we have those staple songs that everyone loves- Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You", Hall and Oates "Make My Dreams Come True", Biggie's "Juicy" and The Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" are almost always played on repeat.

Our picks aren't always the same, but we do have some overlap in our taste for tunes. And that's similar to the way we run our newsroom. We're pretty different people, with wildly different opinions. We love discussion (and, sometimes, drama). But at the end of the day, we compromise and overlap, throw all our creative ideas out there, and sometimes it turns it to something pretty good.

Although not as good as UB40'S "Red, Red Wine."

Columnists Wanted

Do you have an opinion? Want to put it out there?

Then we want you.

The New Hampshire is looking to add a few columnists to our pages for the upcoming semester. Columns can be about any number of topics but should have a particular focus (state politics, pop culture, etc), one that can be revisited on a (preferably) weekly or bi-weekly basis. Columns can be either serious or humorous in tone.

Opinion pieces have always been a part of newspapers. We want thick-skinned columnists interested in facilitating discussion in topics important to our readership. We aim to represent a myriad of views, so we're particularly interested in people with political views or ideologies that they feel are currently underrepresented in the paper.

If interested, send an email to tnh.editor@unh.edu with your name, contact info, and column idea. A sample column or two will be necessary before bringing you on board. The first regular issue of The New Hampshire comes out September 10.

The Princeton Review Ranks UNH

The Princeton Review today released the results of their 2010 survey of 122,000 college students, which rank the country's top 373 colleges in dozens of categories.

Let's just say that it's pretty safe to say that UNH isn't going to be releasing a press release for this one. Here's the lowdown on UNH, according to the Princeton Review (Note: Links may require logging in to princetonreview.com):

#3 "Little Race/Class Interaction"
#3 "Lots of Beer"
#17 "Professors Get Low Marks"
#4 "Town-Gown Relations are Strained"

However, UNH did get named a "Best Northeastern College" (the bad news: there were 218 of them)

Of course, the category that gets the most attention, both at UNH and around the country, is the "Top Party Schools." But UNH, which ranked #7 in 2007 and #11 in 2008 before falling off the list last year, failed to make a return.

Instead, the University of Georgia took the top spot, with Ohio University-Athens and Penn State (last year's #1) rounding out the top three. Here's the complete list (no logging in necessary).

What do you think? Did UNH get snubbed, slammed, or is this just the painful truth? Start the conversation in the comments below.

Summer!

We'll be back in late August.

TNH alumna honored by Basketball Hall of Fame

Why did this have to be announced after TNH's final issue had gone to press?

Jackie MacMullan will be honored in August with the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award. The awards are presented to members of the media who have made a significant contribution to basketball. Read more in the Boston Globe.

TNH loves Jackie MacMullan because not only did she graduate from UNH in 1982, but she was also on our editorial staff during her time here.

As such, we've written about her several times. So instead of a new article on her upcoming award, we'll refer you to some of those.

Most recently, we have "Globe columnist, ESPN contributor, returns to UNH with new book," which was written in November by Brandon Lawrence, currently one of two sports editors. Not surprisingly, this is my favorite part (Note: MacMullan played on the basketball team at UNH):

“Are you kidding?” MacMullan said. “When people ask me ‘what do you remember most about UNH,’ it really isn’t the basketball team, it’s working at The New Hampshire and how much I learned from that, and being up all night and deadlines.”

Here are a couple other stories we've written on MacMullan.

From Jan. 2009: "Looking at the outliers: Seeds of success planted early for Jackie MacMullan"

From 2008: "UNH alumna, Jackie MacMullan, model of integrity and success"

From 2006: "Veteran Globe reporter talks sports at UNH"

Congratulations to Jackie!


(Photo by TNH's Mike Ralph, November 2009)

TNHers take home English Department awards

Last week, UNH's English Department held its annual student awards and scholarship ceremony and, as we did last year, we'd like to recognize our staff members who took home some hardware.

Former Executive Editor Cameron Kittle won the Laura Rice Journalism Award, which is given to a senior journalism student in recognition of outstanding reporting and writing over the course of his or her career at UNH.

Staff Writer Michaela Christensen received the Michael Kelley Memorial Scholarship, awarded to a sophomore or junior who possesses high initiative and energy and demonstrates exceptional journalistic potential.

News Editor Geoffrey Cunningham received the Theodore "Tad" Ackman Journalism Scholarship, awarded in recognition of excellence in the English/Journalism major.

Former Staff Writer Danielle Curtis received the Donald Murray Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded to an English/Journalism major who has demonstrated a passion for nonfiction storytelling.

TNH has been privileged over the past year to have these four contribute their skills to our publication. We couldn't have done it without you. Congratulations to all the winners.