yay me!

I can finally reveal what that good news was I posted about a while back. I won a first place in this year’s National Awards for Education Reporting.
Funnily enough, I won in the opinion-writing category. I’m not supposed to have opinions. I write a column about once a month, but since I’m a straight-arrow reporter the rest of the year, my columns are supposed to have perspectives, not opinions. Oh, well. Anyway, I won for these columns about bad writing, why the football coach is always a history teacher, the public school edge, fake homeschoolers, and kids on the testing bubble.
Congrats to all the other DMNers and ex-DMNers who also won. My colleagues Pete Slover, Tawnell Hobbs, and Kent Fischer (plus ex-colleague Jessica Leeder, now at The Toronto Star) won second place in the investigative-reporting category for their great work uncovering sketchy financial dealings in Dallas schools. Ex-DMNer Manya Brachear (Chicago Tribune) took second in breaking-news reporting, and ex-DMNer Laura Heinauer (now in Austin) took second in best series.