Earlier in the year, I wrote the story, “Into Battle: The Bruises and Bonds of Brotherhood.” The story profiled members of the University of Oregon’s club hockey team and the culture surrounding injuries. It went on to win 5th place in the Associated Collegiate Press’ (ACP) Best of Show competition as well as being a finalist for the ACP Pacemaker Award (the highest national award in collegiate journalism).

In an exciting development, Poynter, a highly-regarded resource for journalists, recognized my feature! Their organization promotes data-driven journalism and ethical conduct. It’s an organization that was formative to me when I started out. It’s an honor to see them linking out to my work.

Also, I want to thank Sierra Morgan for her kind words within the Poynter interview. She programmed the interactive elements on the story’s treatment package and, more importantly, she was an absolute pleasure to have as a collaborator on this project.

Quoted from the interview, Morgan said:

“As for the hockey story, we debated covering another sports story right after the Heisman piece and the hockey story needed coverage. These boys were breaking their bodies and still playing, and this story needed to be reported on for the sake of injury awareness. The reporter, Anne Yilmaz, had great rapport with the team and she pitched and delivered a phenomenal story we couldn’t ignore.” 

Sometimes it feels a little silly celebrating a story when writing is my job, but these milestones are important and meaningful. I highly respect Poynter. They recognizing my work signifies that I’m growing in the right direction.

Thank you for reading.

-A.Y.