YDR effort on trauma of Red Lion school shooting honored as national community service finalist
The Daily Record/Sunday News’ project “Finding their way out,” which examined the lasting trauma left by a school shooting in Red Lion in 2003, was recently honored as a finalist in the Editor and Publisher “Eppy” awards for “Best Community Service on a Media-Affiliated Website with under 1 million unique monthly visitors.”
The winner in that category, announced about a week ago, was another project the Daily Record/Sunday News has a hand in: the American Homecomings website, which is chronicling the return of several veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan, and provides news, commentary and resources for returning veterans.
YDR staffers Kate Penn and Mike Argento are following Darnell Rias of West York, a former Marine who was hurt in a bomb blast in Afghanistan and is embarking on his new life. His story is one of several ongoing narratives on the site.
Of the EPPY finalists, Editor & Publisher wrote:
“After four weeks of in-depth and thorough judging, the E&P team, along with a prestigious panel of 68 judges, has voted and selected the 2012 EPPYTM Award finalists.
Now in its 17th year, this international contest honors the best media-affiliated websites across 30 diverse categories. The awards also recognize excellence in college and university journalism in three different categories, including Best College Newspaper Website.”
YDR managing editor Randy Parker, in an email to staff announcing that “Finding their way out” had been honored as a finalist, acknowledged staffers Bill Landauer, Jason Plotkin and Sam Dellinger along with others who produced the project:
“As you can see, it truly is an honor to be named a finalist in the national competition. … We are proud to have such excellent people working with us and serving this community so well. Personally, I cannot think of an award that is more meaningful than one that falls under the category of ‘Best Community Service.'”