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2014 EMPA Pocono Raceway Writers Contest Award Winners
Judge’s overall comments:
2014 EMPA Pocono Raceway Writers Contest Award Winners
PERSONALITY PROFILE:
1. Matt Noles, Race Pro Weekly “Tadd Parks: 59 Wins and Counting” October 3, 2014.
Judge’s comment: Loved the lead and detail throughout. Complete profile.
2. Gary Mondschein, Pocono Raceway Recap – Vintage Indy Cars “A Salute Fit For A Legend…Bob Harkey” July 2014
Judge’s comment: Nice tribute…concise. Kept me interested from beginning to end.
3. Ron Hedger, Speed Sport Magazine “Wolfe Enjoys Life On The Road” September 2014
Judge’s comment: Did a good job of letting the subject tell the story, without him (the writer) being too wordy.
RACE REPORT:
1. Kevin Kovac, DirtonDirt.com “Birky passes Bloomquist, wins Knoxville Nationals” September 27, 2014
Judge’s comment: Loved the story from start to finish. Understood the significance of the vent. Great use of quotes and transitions!
2. Len H. Sammons, Area Auto Racing News “Pauch Jr. Gets Best Of Epic All Star Shootout Battle With His Father” September 23, 2014
Judge’s comment: Felt like I was in the middle of the action. Write covered dynamic between father and son extremely well.
3. Dino Oberto, Standard-Speaker, Hazleton (Pa.) “AHEAD OF HIS TIME..Strohl, 14, becomes youngest Modified driver to win at Mahoning” May 4, 2014
Judge’s comment: Not always easy to interview “young” people, but writer got a lot of interesting quotes from him. Writer used those quotes to produce a solid story.
COLUMN:
1. J.R. Kennerup, Area Auto Racing News “Racing Passion And Social Media Causing Trouble In Our Sport” October 7, 2014
Judge’s comment: Timely subject. Writer knew how to convey his opinion to readers. His own passion for racing came through load and clear - both ideal for a racing columnist.
2. Dino Oberto, Standard-Speaker, Hazleton (Pa.) “Racer’s death a wakeup call to all others” August 15, 2014
Judge’s comment: Great job “localizing” a national story. Chose word carefully, but correctly in making his point.
3. Jim Donnelly, Hemmings Classic Car “The Good Earth” September 2014
Judge’s comment: Easy to follow…well written.
FEATURE:
1. Ron Hedger, Speed Sport Magazine “The Race Between Races” August 2014
Judge’s comment: Great insight into what a casual fan might think about occasionally, but never saw print. Nice enterprise story….Well done!
2. Jim Donnelly, Hemmings Classic Car “Stocks at Indy” September 2014
Judge’s comment: Solid research plus solid writing equals outstanding piece.
3. John Snyder, Area Auto Racing News “A Short History of Hot Rodding” August 19. 2014
Judge’s comment:Great use of background information made for an interesting read throughout.
NEWS:
1. Steve Barrick, Area Auto Racing News “Alleged Steering Coupler Failure Leads To Violent 410 Sprint Car Crash” June 10, 2014
Judge’s comment: Very detailed…Strong quotes throughout put me at the scene. Felt like I was there….SUPER!
2. Kevin Kovac, DirtonDirt.com “Racing’s struggles push Smith to ‘turn the page’ October 7, 2014
Judge’s comment: Story captured subject’s raw emotions very well…Writer seemed to aslk the right questions, in turn he got solid responses.
3. Earl Krause, Area Auto Racing News “21 Year-Old Driving School Student Loses Life In TQ At Wall, Night Races Cancelled” August 19, 2014
Judge’s comment: Tragic event covered in detail. Solid effort.