SECTION TWO
“Don’t read the publications you write for— read
those you aspire to write for. You won’t improve your
tennis game by beating your little brother (unless he is
John McEnroe).”
can take several days. Some years, I simply
don’t have time to enter every category, so I
concentrate on my strongest suits: TV, radio
and newspaper. If I have time, I watch every
TV show, listen to the radio interviews I have
logged and review all the newspaper articles I
have written for the contest year. As ruthlessly
as I can, I weed out those I don’t think make
the cut. After that process, if there are still
more than two per category, I might ask my
wife to pick her favorites. She is a superb
writer and a great critic, so just having her
look at my work is a humbling experience.
In a good year, I hope to win enough contests
to cover the cost of entering and help defray
my travel expenses to attend the annual
conference. If I factored in the time spent
getting entries ready, I could probably make
more money by not entering the competition
and instead writing a few more articles or
seeking another sponsor or two for my radio
show. It’s not about the money, however.
Some sponsors and editors are impressed by
awards, and it’s always nice to be recognized
by your peers. Winning awards has yielded
benef its I can’t begin to measure.
So much for the logistics of entering. That’s
the easy part. The biggest challenge is
producing work that will win. In broadcast
(or podcast) media, I try to interview people
who have a compelling story to tell: the
golden-voiced 15-year-old who hunts and
f ishes with her family and will release her f irst
country album this year, the conservation
professional who is training her deaf English
setter to hunt with hand signals, the sole
survivor of a Great Lakes shipwreck that
killed 28 crew members. In each case, I try
to make the guest the star of the show by
asking questions that elicit his or her insights,
memories, emotions and/or advice. The less I
talk, the better the chances my guest will serve
up a real gem.
In radio, my on-air partner/editor Jeff Kelm
and I rarely edit a segment unless there is a
major f lub or restart. Our goal is to produce
an interview that sounds natural and “live,”
even though our show is pre-recorded.
For TV entries, two additional elements
come into play that can make or break a
segment: good videography and artful editing.
Fortunately, I work with videographers who
can visualize the f inished product and who
shoot enough B-roll to cover an interview and
editors who can craft a great story from raw
footage and an outline.
Writing for print is an art that for some
writers comes naturally. Others, myself
included, must work at it constantly. There
isn’t room enough here to delve in great depth
into how to write winners, but here are a few
tips:
• Use active verbs and concrete nouns. If you
don’t know what these are, see The Elements of
Style, by Strunk & White. The only grammar
book you’ll ever need, for five bucks on
Amazon.
Volume 01 No. 02 | 2017