Amid all of the weather news that has been occuring today in northern Kentucky and portions of the counties where my family live, I received an email with exciting news…
“This Side of the Creek” has been named a finalist in the Associated Press Society of Ohio news competition for the second year in a row! And once again, my colleagues at the Times-Gazette in Highland County also garnered several awards. Love those guys (and gals). Lora Abernathy, the Ohio Community Media southwest online editor, and I entered our blogs after winning first and second place in the competition last year. Lora and I received those places again this year and it is to be determined which place we took. At least we know we aren’t third, lol…
In May, we will find out for sure as we’ll head back to Columbus to accept and celebrate these awards with fellow newspersons from across the state. Sixty-seven newspapers entered close to 3,000 samples in categories such as blog writing, news feature writing, headline writing, photography, mulitmedia use, sports and front page layouts, etc.
Considering the hesitation I had when deciding to start “This Side of the Creek,” I am quite proud to have sustained this blog and the tremendous readership. Some days I’m at a loss for words and I shy away from posting. Other days it’s as if the words pop into my head and out the ends of my fingertips before I have a chance to take a breath. And there are even days when I doubt everything posted here and question whether I should continue on. I may ask myself, “Who really wants to read this? Why would they care about my words?” Those questions, however, are precisely why I keep going. They afford me the motivation and understanding of how I want to move forward with “This Side of the Creek.” In doing so, I aim to be as real as I can about issues that are often sugarcoated in our society.
As I prepare to turn off my television after hours of storm monitoring, my fear has gone and I’m feeling humble at this time for some good news today. I thank you all for helping to make this second AP award possible. Without you, “This Side of the Creek” would be lonely!
This Side of the Creek 