Best of the Week nominations

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Post your nominations for the best work of the week here. Anyone can nominate – and yes, you can nominate your own work. Just include a link and why you think it is the best work in any of the following categories:

  • Best storytelling
  • Best hustle
  • Best photography/videography
  • Best headline

Good luck! Weekly winners will be announced Fridays at the staff meetings.

66 thoughts on “Best of the Week nominations”

  1. This may be a bit early in the week, but I have at least one nomination!

    Best hustle: Krista Torralva for ALL of her incredibly brave and quick work on the fraternity suspensions and sexual assault allegations

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  4. I’d like to nominate Beaty for her prom story lede, Marley for his volleyball story (well done in the midst of daily coverage of the team), and Canyon for the angle of his golf story (a qualifier tourney isn’t exciting, but he found a great angle in the team bonding – important with so few returning players. the quotes he selected support the angle well).

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  7. I agree on Hustle and Storytelling – Krista and Beaty for those. I also vote for Kristin’s headline on Beaty’s story “UTA asks India to prom”. And for photography, I actually nominate Stephanie’s work with the prom story – All in all, I feel like the story and photo-page made an amazing complete package.

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  8. This week, I vote for Carla’s hustle in getting outside sources for her P1 story on sexual assaults in the country. Good use of national data to show the bigger picture of this often underreported crime.

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  9. I liked Andrea’s extreme horizontal photo showing the volleyball team running offensive drills. It’s the first photo I’ve seen of the team this semester that shows scope – the number of people on the team, the different levels of intensity, something other than a dig or a spike. Good job.

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  10. I nominate Beaty for hustla this week – not only was her Modern Art Museum story awesome, but the photos she put together for it herself are awesome, and really helped to round out the package in my opinion. I also want to applaud Adrian’s photo for Heba’s Vehicle Burglaries story – it was a good image that did not just go with stock stuff of police tape or a police vehicle, or a wide view of the parking lot.

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  11. I thought Kline’s Spider Ballooning story was really interesting and a nice slice of campus life type thing. I had some web on my car too! Also, shout-out to the photo dept (I understand they collaborated) for this Carnaval video and photography, most notably this photo: http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/carnaval-decorates-uc-mall-with-festivities/article_6dfe21d8-2657-11e3-b804-0019bb30f31a.html?mode=image&photo=1

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  13. “Courageous Maddie will not be forgotten” by Lindsey – Best of > Lindsey is going to be an award-winning journalist one day.

    Genevieve Barron’s illustration on “Column: Gay rights are elusive.” Brilliant. The message is clear.

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  16. Hustla: I’m not afraid to vote for myself for that Wendy Davis story and covering an extra shift this week.

    Headline: Kyle for “Dirty never felt so good” – drat you, you punny master!

    Best of: Lindsey for tackling “Courageous Maddie will not be forgotten” – I doubt I could have done half of the work she did on that content.

    Gwan: Andrea for her “Behind the scenes of UTA’s FormulaSAE team” video – it was really good to see the in motion and hear the engine, and to watch the guys working at the end.

    Rookie: Rafael Sears for the sheer output this guy has had – EIGHT stories online since last Friday! Woo!

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  18. Hustla: Shreyas Gune, for coming up with about a billion story ideas, jumping on things, etc.
    Best of: Lindsey and Adrian for story package on Maddie.
    Headline: Dirty never felt so good
    Gwan: IDK
    Rookie: ummmm not sure about this either.

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  19. Rookie – Rafael. He’s a newbie and he’s been in this office about as much as some of the editors. In his first full week, he jumped on news about a possible suicide, sexual assault investigations, fraternity hearings and the university ending its financial support of the Alumni Association. All are developing and he’s juggled them while working his beat.

    “Hustla” – David Kline for his Capitol shooting reaction. He tracked down UTA students in D.C. for internships and got compelling stories of their experiences. He was quick to do so and was a news hound. This editor was very proud!

    Best of –
    – The front page package, Six reasons to play in the mud. It’s visually appealing and alternative. I think it caters well to our readers.
    – Lindsey’s story on Maddie. It’s so emotional. I cried during the editing process. That says enough.

    Headline – “Dirty never felt so good”

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  21. Shout-out to Kathyrn for her really nice anecdotal lede in “Community remembers deceased associate professor”.

    Shout-out to whoever had the idea to put a pokeball in the skybox.

    Shout-out to photo for the Bed Races gallery! I really loved those photos and seeing expressive faces. (I think it was Kayla and Stephanie who covered it?)

    And finally, I think Ann Mai had some good hustle getting the thigh-gap story. I understand it was a pretty last-minute assignment but I think it came out great.

    YAY!

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  22. Storytelling:
    – Kathryn for her professor obit. Also, her sources told her about the death before it was made public. This shows her sources trust her. Very proud of her beat reporting!
    – Dylan for localizing the Gov. shutdown by finding an engineering team who was affected. Work yo beat! P.S. A reporter from The Dallas Morning News retweeted it, Kristin Sullivan praised it.

    Headline:
    – UTA engineering team grounded by shutdown – Dylan

    Gwan:
    – Bed Races gallery

    Hustla
    – Cheryl for her University College flood coverage. She got word of it at 8 p.m. and started contacting sources. She was finished with it before noon the next day.
    – Kathryn and Rafael for jumping on stories about deaths. Neither had covered deaths before (well, Rafael got his first one last week) and they tackled them with a blend of sensitivity and urgency.

    Rookie:
    – Dylan for localizing the Gov. shutdown by finding an engineering team who was affected. Work yo beat! P.S. A reporter from The Dallas Morning News retweeted it, Kristin Sullivan praised it. And he wrote the headline, which I feel is the best one this week.
    – Zara for Space Week to educate UTA. Nice lead, took her own photo

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  24. Hustla
    -Kristin for her comic that went with the Dawaat story. She was assigned it last week, but worked on it all weekend, creating a total of 8 slides for it that were fully colored and everything.

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  25. Rookie- Tasleem
    Headline- Expresso biking for fitness and fame
    HustlA- Carla
    Best of the week- Students involve prayer on campus- David Dunn and Stephanie
    Guan- Me for Parent & Family weekend fall fest/ President video! 😀

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  26. Best storytelling: Group collects bears to give to patients
    Best hustle: Heba Said
    Best photo: Casey Holder pg 8
    Best headline: Expresso biking for fitness and fame

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  28. Rookie of the Week: Rafael Sears for continued coverage of Fraternity suspensions and robberies on campus. (He was on the phone on our way to Oklahoma trying to get a comment from Kristin Sullivan.)

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  29. http://www.theshorthorn.com/multimedia/videos/understanding-the-international-linear-collider-video/youtube_e1ee026e-4184-11e3-87b7-001a4bcf6878.html- Guan, because this video takes a really complex concept and makes it make sense, as well as the video itself is really amazing, it’s fun to watch and it grabs attention!

    Headline-There really were not any great amazing headlines this week :/ http://www.theshorthorn.com/life_and_entertainment/health_and_wellness/expresso-biking-for-fitness-and-fame/article_2e806f14-40e4-11e3-97bf-0019bb30f31a.html

    Rookie- Rafael because of the thirty million things he manages to do each week
    Hustla- Myself- because I am amazing- or Rafael. http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/bursar-services-closed-for-two-days/article_46f26286-4248-11e3-842f-001a4bcf6878.html
    http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/vandergriff-hall-to-host-haunted-house/article_b3ddc182-41b3-11e3-9987-001a4bcf6878.html
    http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/wednesday-is-last-day-to-drop-file-for-grade-exclusion/article_f74623c6-40c1-11e3-977f-001a4bcf6878.html

    Best of- Adrian, http://www.theshorthorn.com/multimedia/videos/understanding-the-international-linear-collider-video/youtube_e1ee026e-4184-11e3-87b7-001a4bcf6878.html. Actually presents a story in a digital first way.

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  31. Rookie of the Week / Hustla: Rafael Sears, to second Lindsey’s vote. He has been persistent to continuously cover fraternity stuff and now robberies.

    Gwan/Best of: Adrian’s God particle video. This is a digital-first way of telling a story! And its obvious he poured a lot of hard work into it.

    Best of: International population at all-time high. Great, direct news lead. Love that we used the text box to show the top 10 countries represented. I truly believe this is a cool element for readers. The reporter worked very hard to get appropriate sources and didn’t back down when the main source rejected interview requests.

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  32. The Best: Understanding the International Linear Collider [video] – http://goo.gl/Fh17zK
    The Best: Elia vs. The World: Print edition – 10/30
    The Best: “Chapters appeal sanctions,” “Hazing allegation extends suspension”
    Headline: “Ahead of the Crowd” – Haha. Get it? It means, like, two different things, at least.
    Photo: “Ahead of the Crowd”

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  34. Rookie- Rafael Sears for his coverage of all the robbery updates this week and his two Fraternity stories on the front page!
    Headline- Either “Broccoli Bulletin: 12 reasons to ditch dairy” for finally giving us a “list” style headline, or “Dickson dominates in double-doubles” for the alliteration
    HustlA- Carla Solorzano for her work getting in the International Students story, the SC meeting coverage with electing a new position, and the campus elections story.
    Best of the week- Adrian’s Higgs boson video; it was informative, fun, and took an amazing amount of work
    Guan- Adrian Gandara for his video

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  35. Adrians video of the linear collider should win best-of or Guan! My choice for Hustla would be for either Jason, Kyle or I for covering an extra shift this week. I also had a couple good headlines this week so I would vote for my own “Archosaur site reopens reminiscence of late director.”

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  37. I wanna nominate my editorial comic for Best Of, because it’s timely and voices a common opinion on campus. And look at his little bucket helmet!

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  38. Headline: ‘Not on par’ for the print golf graphic (me)
    Hustla: Jason, for copy editing most of the Basketball preview on monday
    Best of: Rafael’s ‘6 tips for campus safety’ Given all of the issues that have been happening on campus, I think this is a really important thing for people to read, and I feel Rafael did a good job on it.

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  40. Hustla: The entire Sports Desk for getting their stories done AND the Basketball Preview this week.

    Headline: “Fashion is forever” for the photo page in print

    Best of: “6 tips for campus safety” – the story is what Rafael’s coverage of crimes on campus has been leading to, and was a great way to include advice and information together, in addition to the graphics and the “list-style” headline that just grabs attention.

    Gwan: Adrian Gandara for his “Light Up The Future Kick-Off Festival” photo slideshow video

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  41. Best storytelling – Jessica Fletcher’s Architecture students prepare to work long hours for finals. This was relatable to students and shows good beat reporting and listening to sources.
    This story captured what is going on on campus and on this beat! It could have easily been a mug and quotes about preparing for finals, but the reporter told a story. Finally, awesome lead – its newsy and sums up what I am about to read about. Kudos!
    http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/architecture-students-prepare-to-work-long-hours-for-finals/article_80ea3ef8-4592-11e3-9456-001a4bcf6878.html

    Rookie – Dylan Wood for his work on women in engineering and his eagerness to help with Homecoming coverage. Specifically, I want to praise Dylan for working closely with design (WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD DO). The graphic came out really cool and this is a product of communicating with the other side of the newsroom and being considerate of their deadlines and workload.
    http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/why-the-college-of-engineering-wants-more-female-students/article_fd89514c-45fb-11e3-a219-001a4bcf6878.html

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  42. Headline: “1 month, 50,000 words”

    Rookie – Jessica for “Students prepare for finals”

    Photo – BB Preview, coach Garner: “Players forge bond through basketball” / Cutline: Head coach Doug Garner of the Movin’ Mavs mens’ team gives pointers during a timeout at the game on Oct. 26 at the Mavericks Activity Center.

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  44. The best overall package- I want to say the combination of Carla’s reporting and Ashley’s last minute (our fault) chart to organize all the info was a great example of breaking info down for the consumer http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/campus/meet-the-homecoming-court/article_8e1503da-4c3e-11e3-90fa-001a4bcf6878.html

    Rookie: this graph-graphic http://www.theshorthorn.com/news/homecoming-budget-cut-bash-not-free/article_e1e1f7c6-4bcf-11e3-994b-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=image&photo=0

    Hustla: Dylan, for the ambitious personality he has when there are any chances that we need a reporter for something.

    Rookie: Dylan- He is literally the only reporter that I think is actually beat reporting, and he is doing it so efficiently that he writes upwards of two stories a week ON HIS OWN- I mean without ANYONE assigning him or telling him he finds the stories tells me about them outs them on budget follows up with me every step of the way and turns in a full complete story by or before the deadline!

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  46. Seconding best headline as “I mustache you a question.”
    In the same vein, Chloe should get Best Of for those mustache drawings.

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  47. Headline: I mustache you a question

    Rookie: Aquil – this week she fearlessly reported a sports/administration story, an Obamacare story that wasn’t on her beat and a story that is on her beat. All while working on a challenging story that will run next week.

    Best of: The news desk because it sure has grown. I was so proud to read this print edition and see the hustle on reporting breaking news. Leads and structure across the desk were WAY better than before. The collaboration and urgency to respond to news (power outage, ERB, Philippines, Anderson Cooper, robberies) was at an all-semester high. And the print edition was real newsy. I feel that news really caught what the campus was talking about this week (safety, homecoming.

    Gwan: Kayla Stigall for her photo of Krista Gerlich yelling at her team Thursday night. Way to catch a moment! Good job looking for the not-so-obvious photo and taking your eyes off the court. This photo caught emotion that could tell the story.

    Hustla: Everyone doing Homecoming stuff. I know it’s cheesy of me to want to give everyone awards this week, but I am just so proud of the entire staff right now. I’ve heard people volunteer to take on Homecoming stories when I was afraid they would be running for the hills.

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  48. Best headline: I mustache you a question. Not only was it very punny and recognizable, the story was about asking students questions, so it fit perfectly. HONORABLE MENTION: Chloe’s chili headline.

    Best photo: Stephanie Goddard’s basketball print photo. Great action, good color, it was just a solid photo. HONORABLE MENTION: Adrians awesome nighttime photo of the fraternity volunteer drive.

    Hustla: News desk, for really pushing out good content and jumping on news this week.

    Best of: Kristen’s editorial cartoon. Thought it was a really accurate portrayal of campus life through a cleverly drawn poll.

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  51. Best of the week:

    Stephanie Goddard’s Broadway video or
    Vallarie Gupte’s “People judge you by your phone” video.
    Or Ryan’s rock,paper, scissors package

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  55. Best Headline: The Show Must Go On–perfectly apt headline for the story. I also loved the lede of the story too.

    Best of the Week: Adrian’s lung video–excellent package with Tanasia’s story.

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  56. Rookie: Nada Atieh for her work getting the phishing story out – it was relevant and useful information.

    Hustla: The Shorthorn, for beating deadline on print this week.

    Headline: “Cut. Cover. Crush.”

    Best of: “Cut. Cover. Crush” – the whole story and set of infographics really came together. Also, I just loved the coverage and the fact that it was something interesting and goofy instead of a “deep” or “hard-hitting” story. Something not so serious, especially getting ready to go into finals.

    Gwan: Vallari Gupte’s “People judge you by your phone” video. Informative, relevant, interesting, and just well done.

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