Seven chances to win....

Alright everyone, wish me luck. Tomorrow is the awards ceremony for my second Michigan Press Association journalism competition. I will be competing against college students all over Michigan with our published articles written over the past year in the following categories: news article, in-depth news article (three-part series on a college funding), feature article, opinion column (political - Christians who vote like idiots), opinion column (personal experience - Star Wars hooplah), photo essay and stand alone photo. That's seven submissions chosen by my editor and faculty advisor. Seven chances to win, folks, the max number of submissions allowed. They like me. :)

Now, whether or not I win is somewhat of a crap shoot, which is why you all need to wish me luck. Part of it depends on the submissions they chose (one of which I don't think was my strongest piece), the level of journalism exhibited by the other entries, and whatever the particular judge is looking for. Last year I won first place for in-depth journalism and an honorable mention for editorial (a category for which I didn't submit this year). I was quite fond of my editorial as it was on race relations, but my in-depth feature was frankly a snooze. My favorite submission last year was a funny piece about people eating like pigs in restaurants and blowing their nose while I'm eating (which I also posted to this blog). However, it didn't win because the judge thought it too broad a subject matter to address articulately in a 600-word article. Whatever.

So, the awards ceremony begins tomorrow at 2:30 and by 3:30 I shall know the worth of my journalistic output for 2005-2006. Sort of. Be assured however, whatever the outcome, I shall post the results here! Keep your eyeballs peeled.