Lois Lane and Perry White*

Image via Wikipedia

Holy 48-hour news cycle and hats off to our staff in Norway and Lewiston. We also had a freelancer photographer and volunteer fire fighter lend hand in this coverage. There is more in the works including some large court and crime reports involving drugs, death and mayhem. On the bright side we have kids helping out by giving and stories of pie-baking fundraisers that sell out in a day. What a place this is.

One of our reporters just shot me a note about how she has had to hitchhike rides with firefighters and ambulance drivers to bring back these sad spot news stories over the last two days. These folks have not only helped those in need they have enabled these reports.

Others stories in this recent busy cycle have seen editors and page designers stepping up and heading to the scene. Both to write stories and shoot video but also to do their desk jobs and shuttle colleagues to and from scenes as need be. Photographers at shift's end hanging for one more go. Adept and capable journalists working under tight deadlines with tragic stories.

The stories linked here are examples of community journalism at it's finest and also examples of how a newsroom team and citizen journalists working together can bring compelling and important reports to the community.

This is impressive work by a host of people in some trying times. Especially those volunteer community members who step to the plate again and again to help those in need. Anyway we have been on a rough run into Thanksgiving and I thought all these folks warranted recognition and appreciation.

*Our in house honors are action figures from the Daily Planet. The awards, while named for characters are gender neutral. Lois Lane is given for superhuman reporting efforts, Perry White for editing efforts that go above and beyond the bounds of gravity. We also award the Gecko and Jimmy Olsen -- but that's for another post. :)