In March 2015, I received a phone call from my boss informing me that our team had won one of the highest awards in the world of news design — We were honored with an Award of Excellence from the Society for News Design in the category of Print & Digital news. This is truly a huge honor and it was definitely a team effort. Many thanks to the Times Free Press Presentation Editor, Matt McClane, for kick-starting the design and allowing me to carry it to print. Obviously we wouldn’t have been able to do this project without such great photography and writing by Doug Strickland and Kate Belz, respectively. There are a few others that deserve mention, and you can view their names here. This is also a truly touching story with many amazing visuals. View the online project here. I am grateful to work with such a team of talented individuals and am excited to be IN the 36th annual SND book — a book I’ve looked to for inspiration since I started in the biz!
Alaina O'Neal 