Grimmies: Awards for Outstanding Obituary Writing

Grimmies: SPOW Awards

During the Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) Conference to be held in Toronto June 7-9, the organization will present Grimmies - awards honoring outstanding obituary work that was published in 2011 and 2012.

These will be SPOW’s first awards following the death beaters’ reorganization hiatus.

As always, SPOW especially wants to recognize distinguished obit writing done by reporters and freelance writers, who regularly work on the death beat. SPOW also wants to feature news obituaries that stand out in the judges’ eyes. Obits presented on radio, television, blogs and other online entities will also be considered.

Because of the short window for submitting and judging obits this time, we will accept entries in only five categories. More than one honoree may be chosen from each category depending on the number of entries received and at the judges’ discretion.

Category 1: Body of Work published in 2011.

Submit five obituaries written by one author that were published in 2011.

 

 

Category 2: Body of Work published in 2012.

Submit five obituaries written by one author that were published in 2012.

 

 

Category 3: Outstanding obituaries published in 2011.

Individual obits (published in 2011), which you believe deserve recognition. These can be obits about famous folks or everyday people. They should definitely be well-written and reported, hold the readers’ interest and highlight the deceased’s life. If appropriate, please include a brief letter with the entered obit explaining out-of-the box approaches to the writing of the obit, difficulties that were overcome in getting the story, the obit’s impact on the community, its relevance in regards to the news of the day (i.e. elections, gun violence) or some other significance our judges might not see automatically.

 

 

Category 4: Outstanding obituaries published in 2012.

Individual obits (published in 2012), which you believe deserve recognition. These can be obits about famous folks or everyday people. They should definitely be well-written and reported, hold the readers’ interest and highlight the deceased’s life. If appropriate, please include a brief letter with the entered obit explaining out-of-the box approaches to the writing of the obit, difficulties that were overcome in getting the story, the obit’s impact on the community, its relevance in regards to the news of the day (i.e. elections, gun violence) or some other significance our judges might not see automatically.

 

In the past, the judges divided longer word-count obits from shorter obits in judging the various categories. This time, that distinction will not be made as the works are entered. However, the judges have the discretion to make the length of the obits a factor when selecting the honorees.

 

 

Category 5: Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lifetime Achievement Awards are designed to recognize recipients for their dedication to the craft and profession of obit writing over time. Factors include how the obit writer inspired or affected fellow obit writers, fellow journalists, funeral directors, bereaved families, readers and the community.

 

Anyone can nominate an obituary writer for Lifetime honors, and no entry fee is involved.

Letters of nomination should include the name of the obituary writer, a brief bio, work history, why this individual deserves to be honored and examples of obits the nominee has written.

The name of and contact information for the sender must be included in the letter of nomination.

Two Lifetime recipients will be honored at the 2013 SPOW Conference to make up for not having an LA recipient in 2012.

The nominations for nominees, who are not selected this year, will automatically be added to the nominations in subsequent years.

 

To Enter:

All submissions will be handled online. Send submissions by category to obitwriters.org@gmail.com. The deadline is May 4, 2013.

Type the category name in the subject line.

 

In the body of the email, include the name of the obituary writer, headline and/or name of the obit subject, name of publication, date of publication and contact information for obit writer and an editor or other appropriate person at that publication. Also include links to the obits under consideration.

If links are not available, please copy the obit text to a Word document and send as attachments to the email.

 

It is understood that by entering this contest, the obituary writer and the news organization grant the Society of Professional Obituary Writers permission to post the entered obituary or obituaries online and to use excerpts for purposes of discussion on SPOW's Obituary Forum blog at http://www.obituaryforum.blogspot.com.

 

 

Entry fees

The entry fee for each obit submitted in Categories 3 and 4 is $25. The entry fee for the 5-obit package submitted in Categories 1 and 2 is $50. Each obit included in each 5-obit package for Category 1 will also be entered in Category 3. The same goes for the 5 obits for Category 2. Each will also be considered under Category 4.

Go to Eventbrite at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5639271212# to pay entry fees and SPOW Conference registration. (Conference registration info has not been posted at Evenbrite yet.) 

 

 

SPOW yet lives!

The Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) will host its first conference in two years in Toronto, Ontario, (Canada, if you didn't know) June 7-9, 2013.

Csillag

The event is being planned by SPOW Award-winning writer Ron Csillag and his team of merry Canadians. More to come on that.

SPOW also plans to go ahead with its annual awards - the SPOW Awards, a.k.a. Grimmies - honoring outstanding obit work published in 2011 and 2012. Another post (to be posted shortly) will provide details on that. In the meantime, dig up your obits published in those years for consideration. Outgoing SPOW director Alana Baranick (that would be me) is serving as contest coordinator.

Powell

Kay Powell, retired Atlanta Journal Constitution obits editor and winner of several SPOW Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, will handle Lifetime Achievement nominations. More on that soon too.

Meacham

Andrew Meacham, another SPOW Award winner from the Tampa Bay Times, has been named SPOW's acting director. He will be posting messages from SPOW on this Obituary Forum blog - www.obituaryforum.blogspot.com.

The SPOW website - www.obitwriters.org - will soon disappear from the Internet. The Obituary Forum blog and the general SPOW email - obitwriters.org@gmail.com - will serve as the best means for reaching SPOW.

Keep checking back for more SPOW news.

New Book Features An Obit Writer As The Protagonist

"If Claire had to look back and decide why she had the affair in the first place, she would point to the missing boy."

So begins "The Obituary Writer," a new book by Ann Hood. The story focuses on the lives of two women: one is an unhappy housewife living in the early 1960s, the other is an obituary writer living in 1919 and searching for her missing lover.

Described as part-literary mystery and part-love story, "The Obituary Writer" will be released on March 4.

An Awesome Introduction To The Death Beat

The South Florida chapter of the Society Of Professional Journalists is sponsoring a unique writing workshop for aspiring obit writers. The goal of the "SPJ Death Race" is to help reporters learn how to write a great obituary in a hands-on -- and fun -- fashion.

On Jan. 19, SPJ South Florida will fake three deaths. Participants will take a crash course in obit writing with Miami Herald obituary writer Elinor Brecher, then spend the afternoon attending a mock memorial at an area funeral home, interviewing arrivals about the deceased and eating dessert. Afterwards, the reporters will head to the newsroom of the South Florida Gay News and write their stories.

All obits will be judged by Brecher and the "deceased." The writer of the best obit will win an awesome urn filled with the ashes of pages burned from local newspapers.

"Why are we doing this? Because it can be argued that few stories are more important than those summing up a life just concluded. Yet few journalists are taught how to write obituaries. So while we’re obviously having some fun with the process, we’re quite serious about the topic. You will learn something by the end of the day," Michael Koretzky stated.

Appreciation For An Obit Writer

Tawnya Stapleton, longtime obituary writer for The Independent in Ashland, Ky., recently retired. In response, editor Mark Maynard penned a lovely tribute to Stapleton and her 22 years of dedication to the craft and the community.

"You haven’t seen her name in the bright lights of our newspaper because her writing doesn’t require a byline. Most of our readers wouldn’t know her if they saw her. But she has been there writing. Five days a week for 22 years. Always steady. Always professional. Always compassionate."

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Obits on massacred children

"How do you write an obit for a 6-year-old?" asks Washington Post (and former Tampa Bay Times) reporter Brady Dennis on Twitter following the Dec. 14 slayings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in New Jersey.

"And then for 15 more 6-year-olds? And then for four 7-year-olds?"

Ou conventional wisdom seems to indicate it's pretty hard to do effectively. To borrow a phrase from Kay Powell, the "arc or a life" isn't easy to track below middle age, at least in a way that's comfortable for us as storytellers. We want the story to be about the kid, not the kid's parents or anyone else. So what is there to say that will distinguish one 6-year-old from another in any memorable way?

All of this must be produced in a few hours, as the rest of the world's media are running down the same sources.  This sudden flood of attention sends some grieving people into shutdown mode.  Friends who feel powerless anyway take it upon themselves to ward off cameras and request privacy for the family.

Below are some snapshot obits by Matt Sedensky of the New York Times, of 12 students and four adults -- and until I figure out this linking in a way I can trust, the story is here:

http://www.tampabay.com/incoming/always-smiling-portraits-of-conn-victims/1266396

I always admire reporters who find a way to crank out even miniature thumbnail tidbits of people who have died. Perfectionism only helps as a hedge against making mistakes; otherwise it's counterproductive. Here's what I thought Sedensky did really well in an almost impossible situation.

He used what he had. Speaking for myself, there are times I've felt I should have a consistent voice across different obits. It's taken a while to accept that just as no two lives are the same, obits can emphasize very different kind of elements, from personality to the role someone played in a breaking news event. Lauren Rousseau, a teacher, had baked cupcakes to take to a party Friday night after she and her boyfriend watched The Hobbit. School psychologist Mary Sherlach, on the other hand, ran directly toward the young man weilding a semi-automatic rifle and lost her life in the process, and it is this detail that stands out for me, at least, in reading her story.

Whenever possible, he talked to people. Portraits of the children include images apparently gleaned from social media sites and the comments that appear below. That's okay, but the results there are less than spectacular. We learn that one girl visited Santa Claus and that another wore a pink polo dress, and and a friend of the girl in the dress thought she looked a lot like her brother.

Compare that against what this reporter found through apparent contact with human sources. Jesse Lewis often accompanied his dad to construction sites and to the coffee shop. Benjamin Wheeler's rabbi says the boy, 6, was unafraid to lead Hanukah dances and get others on the floor. Chase Kowalski, 7, recently told a neighbor about completeing and winning his first mini-triathlon.

Those are a couple of features about this unenviable assignment that impress me as a reader. I would imagine (but don't know) that Sedensky had some help, with others supplying him feeds. But to produce this much, under so much duress and with competition everywhere, is freaking amazing.

Andy Meacham

WATCH: Tim Bullamore on Obituary Writing

Society of Professional Obituary Writers Reorganization, Conference and Awards

The Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) is taking a hiatus from hosting a conference and handing out awards for obit writing for 2012 during the group’s reorganization.

SPOW Awards honoring obituary work published in 2011 will be presented along with awards for obits published in 2012 during the 2013 SPOW Conference at a location to be determined.

SPOW seeks to elect a new director, revamp its website and make the organization more relevant in the changing world of journalism.

Interested SPOW members, associate members and friends are invited to participate in the reorganization, recommend director candidates and volunteer for various duties by contacting current director Alana Baranick at alana.baranick@obitwriters.org.

Woman's paid obit neglects to mention pertinent detail: She killed five people.

A North Carolina newspaper explains why it published a paid obituary that neglected to mention the deceased's responsibility for a shooting rampage. Includes links to news stories.

'This American Life' Seeks Obit Suggestions

The New York Times Magazine has invited the radio program "This American Life" to guest edit its end-of-the-year obituaries issue called "The Lives They Lived." For this year's issue, The Times Magazine is looking to broaden the scope of the people featured, focusing less on notable people and more on those who died, but received little media attention.

"We're looking for stories, anecdotes, suggestions about people who have died this year that are particularly personal, emotional, unbelievable, extraordinary. These stories can be told by friends or relatives, business associates or casual acquaintances. They can even be told by the deceased people themselves, if archival tape, interviews or memoirs exist. They don't have to be long or epic -– the story isn’t supposed to tell their whole life –- but it'd be great if they're emotional or surprising and evocative of the featured person in some way. In particular, we'd love stories or suggestions about soldiers who have passed away, firefighters or police officers. Beloved teachers and the big turning points in their lives, or just one amazing teachable moment they nailed. Politicians? Town eccentrics? Someone who died who lived a great love story. A child who died. Also, anyone who left a particularly charming or extensive or simply mindblowing instructions for their memorial service."

Send pitches/links to Julie Snyder, senior producer of "This American Life."

Quote of the Day

"I still use a manual typewriter (a 1953 Underwood portable, in a robin’s-egg blue) because the soft pip-pip-pip of the typing of keys on a computer keyboard doesn’t quite fit with my sense of what writing sounds like. I need the hard metal clack, and I need those keys to sometimes catch so I can reach in and untangle them, turning my fingertips inky. Without slapping the return or turning the cylinder to release the paper with a sharp whip, without all that minor havoc, I feel I’ve paid no respect to the dead. What good is an obituary if it can be written so peaceably, so undisturbingly, in the dark of night?" --From "The Coffins of Little Hope" by Timothy Schaffert

The Geography of Loss

Patti Digh, author of "Life Is a Verb" and "What I Wish For You," is writing a book called "The Geography of Loss." She's also launched a Tumblr blog to highlight the answers of people around the world to one simple question:

For what or for whom do you grieve?

Personally, I grieve for my best friend, my grandmother, my cats (Princess, Sox, Eastman and Mystery), my high school sweetheart and some of the many people I've covered on the death beat. What about you?

PJ O'Rourke proposes vindictive pre-obits

I can remember when PJ O'Rourke was maybe the funniest writer in the country, when he edited National Lampoon, when he wrote stuff like High Speed Performance Characteristics of Pickup Trucks.

Sadly his work has declined to things like this predictable litany in which he wishes his political enemies dead. It's the usual suspects and there's nothing creative about it and it would be just as bad if his enemies happened to be conservatives. PJ became so partisan that he ate his brain, as well as his bilious good humor.

NYTimes Crossword Puzzle mentions in death notices

I'm a NYTimes crossword fan and a NYTimes death notice reader, and it's funny how these two obsessions manage to meet every now and then.

Today it is Mildred Swartsberg, who died at 99 and "had a passion for all the arts, sports and The New York Times crossword puzzle. She was great at anything she tried."

I'd hardly choose to be remembered for my devotion to the Sunday crossword - my spaghetti aglio et olio would be a better keepsake. Still today's death notice crossword mention set me to wondering how often the crossword pops up in death notices.

Nexis reveals that it is an astonishing 238 times since 1997, more than once a month. The pioneer was the redoubtable Bertha Newman, an accountant who was remembered as "a voracious reader, a devotee of The New York Times cross word puzzle, a woman of inspired conversation, a deeply caring friend, and a person who never lost her passionate love for the cultural life of this city."

Nor have I!!

The end of the story

The Toronto Star's public editor describes the circumstances in getting an obituary of Canada's Opposition leader on the web within 20 minutes of his death.

Missing survivors

John Millican died on June 11. To honor his partner of 10 years, Terrance James filled out the paperwork for an obituary notice in the Batesville Daily Guard. But when the obit ran five days later, James was not listed as a survivor. Instead the notice featured the names of Millican's deceased parents, and his three siblings, with whom he had little contact.

When questioned about the omission, Pat Jones, the Arkansas newspaper's general manager, told the blog Queerty: "It’s not a gay thing. We don’t list unmarried couples, in-laws, or pets in the free obituaries."

Boston Skycap

Here's a sweet everyman type obit via Marquard

Not Your Grandma's Obit

Ellen McGarr excelled at quitting, and hers is a livelier read than the usually dry family-placed death notices. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/idahostatesman/obituary.aspx?n=ellen-mcgarr&pid=150429149&fhid=10163
Please note that the comment about dark meat in her chicken salad is as much a myth as all Southerners drink sweet tea.

NYTimes runs 112-year-old obit correction

Not just the oldest but among the longest cx I've ever seen, and really interesting.

Pawlenty's announcement appears on obits page

In Pioneer Press of all places

Jim Sheeler, Roy Peter Clark and Mallory Tenore chat about stories of life and death

Jim Sheeler

Did you miss the realtime online chat featuring Jim Sheeler (Pulitzer Prize winner, Case Western Reserve University professor), Roy Peter Clark (Poynter) and Mallory Tenore (Poynter) mentioned in the previous post by Jade Walker?

You can still check out what was covered by visiting the Poynter chat on How to Report & Write Stories of Life, Death.

Live chat: How to report & write stories about life & death

Jim Sheeler, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his “Final Salute” series, and writing coach Roy Peter Clark will chat about writing stories of life and death today at 3 p.m. ET. Click here to participate in the conversation. Twitter users can also ask questions ahead of time using the hashtag #poyntertweets.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jeffery Williams (1920-2011)

A swell obituary in The Telegraph of a Canadian military historian who was the last member of the paper's obituarists to have served in the Second World War.

The 2011 Grimmies, a.k.a. Society of Professional Obituary Writers Awards, Have Been Presented

And the winners are:

Larken Bradley

The 2011 SPOW Lifetime Achievement in Obituary Writing Award was presented to Larken Bradley, who writes obits for the West Marin Citizen in the San Francisco area and does custom obits for clients, at an awards luncheon at Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., on May 13, 2011. Her website is: http://obituarywriters.com/.

The list of official SPOW Award recipients are as follows:

Best Body of Work in Obituary Writing (Long Form): Philip Fine, Globe and Mail.

Best Body of Work in Obituary Writing (Short Form): Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun Times.

Best Obit about an Internationally Known Figure: Sandra Martin, Globe and Mail, for her Jackie Burroughs obit.

Best Obituary Tribute: Tom Hawthorn, Globe and Mail, for his Gene Kiniski obit.

Best Obituary (Short Form) about a Well-Known Regional Figure: Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun Times, for her Joseph Sterling obit.

Best Obituary (Long Form) about a Well-Known Regional Figure: Amy Rabideau Silvers, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, for her Lorrie Otto obituary.

Best Obituary (Short Form) about an Average Joe: Amy Rabideau Silvers, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, for her Evelyn Fefer obituary.

Best Obituary (Long Form) about an Average Joe: Andrew Meacham, St. Petersburg Times, for his Neal Alan Smith obit.

Winners of the People's Picks, an online poll that is open to the public but has no bearing on the outcome of the official Grimmies judging, are:

Body of Work (Long Form): Ron Csillag, Globe and Mail;

Body of Work (Short Form): Mark Zaborney, Toledo Blade.

Internationally Known Figure: Dave Hoekstra, Chicago Sun Times, for his Solomon Burke obit.

Best Obituary Tribute: Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, for his Tony Curtis obituary.

Best Obituary (Long Form) about an Average Joe: Ron Csillag, Globe and Mail, for his Fred Huffman obit.

Best Obituary (Short Form) about an Average Joe: Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun Times, for her obituary for The DeMuros.

Best Obituary (Long Form) about a Well-Known Regional Figure: Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun Times, for her Jim Cole obit.

Best Obituary (Short Form) about a Well-Known Regiona Figure: Maureen O'Donnell, Chcago Sun Times, for her Joe Vito obituary.

Legacy.com announces partnership with Society of Professional Obituary Writers to showcase obits for everyday people

Press release from Legacy.com:

LEADING MEMORIAL SITE PARTNERS WITH OBITUARY WRITERS TO SPOTLIGHT OBITS FOR “ORDINARY” PEOPLE

With help from the Society of Professional Obituary Writers, Legacy.com shares newspaper obituaries for teachers, homemakers and others

EVANSTON, Ill. – There’s no shortage of places to read the life stories of celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson. But too often the obituaries of less well-known people go unnoticed. A new feature launched by online memorial leader Legacy.com seeks to change that by highlighting obituaries for ordinary people who led extraordinary lives – or who simply had exceptionally interesting obituaries.

Through a newly-formed partnership with the Society of Professional Obituary Writers, Legacy.com – which hosts the obituary sections of 900-plus newspapers in the United States and around the world – is showcasing stories not only of movie stars and pop singers, but also of teachers, restaurant servers, homemakers and more.

“We’re delighted to share with our millions of users some of the amazing life stories that are published in newspapers every day,” said Legacy.com President and CEO Stopher Bartol. “By combining our resources with those of the nation’s leading obituary writers, we not only drive traffic to newspaper obituaries, but also help satisfy the appetite of readers for interesting stories and the desire by families for their loved ones’ legacies to be remembered.”

Examples include:
*A devoted married couple who died four days apart, 65 years after they first met.
*A schoolteacher who, at 98, recalled the names of students she had taught half a century earlier. (They remembered her, too.)
*A popular parking meter prosecutor. (Yes, you read that right.)

The highlighted obituaries, regularly added to a Legacy.com blog called The Obit Report that links to the newspaper where the obituary was originally published, are often inspirational – and occasionally funny.

For example, the family of Rose Davis provided a lighthearted accounting of her birth and life, as well as their eventual reunion with her in heaven: We miss you dearly and know that we'll meet again. But, not too soon.

The Obit Report initiative was partly the result of a report by the Medill School of Journalism that found “people interested in obituaries – compelling stories about noteworthy lives – are a sizeable, highly engaged potential audience.”

“The Medill team zeroed in on the fact that people enjoy reading stories about people, whether they’re famous or not,” Bartol said, noting that obituaries are among the most visited sections of newspapers. “Given that Legacy.com publishes thousands of newspaper obituaries each day and SPOW is comprised of award-winning journalists who are passionate about obituaries, the partnership positions us well to identify great content and share it with a broader audience.”

Said Alana Baranick, SPOW director: “The Society of Professional Obituary Writers is delighted that Legacy.com has made The Obit Report a forum on which to spotlight obits about ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives. We're sharing life stories that are beautifully or cleverly written by professional journalists as well as family-prepared obits that capture our attention for a variety of reasons.”

The Obit Report is currently available at www.legacy.com and via Legacy.com’s Facebook page.

ABOUT LEGACY.COM
Founded in 1998, Legacy.com is the world’s most timely and comprehensive resource for online obituaries and the undisputed leader in Web-based memorialization. With 18 million unique visitors each month, the Legacy.com domain is among the 100 most visited on the Internet.

Legacy.com’s network includes thousands of newspapers and funeral homes in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. By making interactive memorial content accessible directly via the websites of newspapers and funeral homes, Legacy.com helps people expand the ways in which they can express condolences and share remembrances of loved ones. A privately held company, Legacy.com is headquartered in Evanston, Ill.

ABOUT SPOW
The Society of Professional Obituary Writers is a group of journalists who write, produce and present obituaries for newspapers and other news entities. SPOW spotlights the art of obituary writing while helping obituary writers improve their craft.

NYTimes obit writer talks about Bin Laden obit

Sounds like it was barely updated over a decade ... I bet this isn't one of those where the subject cooperates.

People's Picks and the Grimmies (SPOW Awards) will be announced May 13

at an awards luncheon at Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., during the 2011 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Conference.

For conference details, visit our conference page.

People's Picks for Internationally Famous Individual

Read about these famous people by clicking their names:
Miep Gies
Jean Charpentier
Howard O. Jones
Solomon Burke
Jackie Burroughs

People's Picks for Short-form Regional Figure

Click the names, read the obits, then decide.
Carolyn Rodgers
Joe Vito
Joseph Sterling
Leigh Van Valen
Robert "Squirrel" Lester

Long-form Obits for Average Joes await the People's Picks

The Long-form Average Joe finalists are:
Fred Huffman
Neal Alan Smith
Patricia Travers
Margaret St. James
Jim and Bettie Wise
Got a favorite?

People's Picks for Long-form Regional Figure

Finalists in the Long-form Regional Figure category for the SPOW and its People's Picks honors are:
Arturo Petterino
Lorrie Otto
Marylena Graves
Jim Cole
Laura Legge

People's Picks for Short-form Average Joe obit

The finalists for SPOW Awards for Short-form obits about Average Joes are:
Patricia and Lou DeMuro
Denise Hodges
Evelyn Fefer
Kendall Tapley
Mark Butler
Michael Schwass

You'll notice we've got six finalists in this category. That's because we had three obits tied for the final two slots in the top five. This seemed like the best way to handle it.

People's Picks for obit tributes

Some famous people are featured in the top entries of the Tribute category of the 2011 Society of Professional Obituary Writers competition.

If you like the obit for Tony Curtis, prefer the one for Solomon Burke or think one for a person you've never heard of is the most awesome, that's dandy.

But please don't choose the movie star because he's your all-time favorite actor or the soul singer because you like his music.

Please choose the obit that moves you, informs you and/or entertains you.

Click the name to read the obit.
Tony Curtis

Solomon Burke

Gene Kiniski

Jim Wakefield

Ronald Chase Sr.

People's Picks: Short-form Body of Work

Click each "lettered" obit writer. Read all five obits that were written by that individual. Then choose your favorite.

Obit writer F

Obit writer G

Obit writer H

Obit writer I

Obit writer J

The People's Picks Poll: The Unofficial Popularity Contest for Obit Writing

Click here to read Obit writer A's 5 obits.

Obit writer B's work is here.

Here's Obit writer C's entry.

And Obit writer D.

And finally Obit writer E.

These are the five finalists for the Long-form Body of Work category of the 2011 Society of Professional Obituary Writer's Awards for obit writing.

And this is the first installment of the 2011 SPOW People's Picks Poll.

This just-for-fun exercise allows the public to let us know which obits and obit writers they like best. It has no bearing on the official winners. A panel of obituary professionals has already selected the winners in all eight categories as well as the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award.

(I know, I know. Obit writers getting awards for "body" of work and "lifetime" achievement does seem a bit ironic.)

All entries are presented without bylines, headlines or photos. The obits have to stand on their own.

And they do!

To the contestants: Great work!

Lifetime summed up in four words or less

Lou Wigdor, senior writer and editor for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, wrote about "reader-penned necros" from the Daily Hampshire Gazette for his Wig & Pen blog.

He hopes you'll find the piece entertaining.

Public Eavesdropping in the San Francisco Chronicle

"I haven't read the obituaries yet. I'm saving them for dessert." Elderly man reading the newpaper and talking to his mate, overheard at the French Hotel in Berkeley by Robin May.

Avoiding the 'knight in shining armor' and other obituary cliches

I recently conducted an obit workshop at the 2011 CMA-CBI Spring College Media Convention in New York City called "Death Is Your Editor." Over the course of an hour, I talked about how to:

* breathe life into obituary writing
* research a subject you can’t interview
* avoid the curse of the cliche
* write the last word on someone’s life

Then I had the audience pen the opening lines of their own obits. Here is one attendee's take on the workshop.

Awkward

The Guardian discovers a convicted criminal wrote an obituary of one of his victims. Chris Elliott, whose title is reader's editor, writes about contributions published in good faith.

Writing Obits: A mini tutorial

For the briefest tutorial ever on obit writing, check out this obitpage.com podcast link.
Carolyn Gilbert, founder of Obitpage.com, interviews Kay Powell in this podcast. It takes several minutes to view.
While you're on the page, check out the other obit podcasts posted regularly by Gilbert and Dr. Cory Franklin.
Those podcasts are online obits for the dead. I am Kay Powell, and I am not dead.

Another byline for the NYTimes counterpart of Dr. Death

Donn Downey of the Globe and Mail. Mel Gussow of the New York Times.

Both wrote advance obits for Elizabeth Taylor, whose famous hospital stays probably outnumbered her movie roles.

And the indomitable Ms. Taylor outlived both obit writers.

Mara Gray posted a brief article about Gussow for AOL News titled "Elizabeth Taylor's Obit Writer Died 6 Years Ago".

Another byline for the late Dr. Death

A full-page obit of Elizabeth Taylor in the March 24 edition of the Globe and Mail was written by Donn Downey, a veteran obituarist who died in April, 2001. This was his 12th credited obit since his death. His own obit in the newspaper, based in Toronto, Canada, noted that the well-liked wordsmith was known by his colleagues as Dr. Death.

A FOBIT Is Born

There's nothing like a death in the family to create a new FOBIT, Friend of Obits. Check out this Huffington Post piece by Pamela Tom. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-tom/finding-glory-in-life-in-_b_838237.html

The Ides of March: Deadline for entering obituary writing competition



 Just a reminder: The deadline for submitting entries for the 2011 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Awards is March 15.

If you need an extension, please let us know.

Click here for contest details.

Pictured above right is Kay Powell, showing off the two SPOW Awards she won in 2008. Last year, Kay became the third recipient of the SPOW Lifetime Achievement Award.

2011 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Conference and Registration

Society of Professional Obituary Writers Conference
May 12-14, 2011
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Thursday, May 12:

6 p.m. – SPOW Conference kickoff dinner starts at 6 p.m. at The Columbia at the Pier restaurant, 800 2nd Avenue N.E., St. Petersburg. Individuals are responsible for ordering and paying for their own meals. (fyi: We may have to change the time from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Stay tuned.)

All sessions Friday and Saturday at The Poynter Institute, 801 Third Street South, St. Petersburg. All times are approximate. Schedule is subject to change.

Friday, May 13:
9-10 a.m.- Welcome, opening remarks and “Getting to know you” icebreaker, followed by short break.

10-11:30 a.m. - Keynote speaker: Kelly McBride, a senior Poynter faculty member, will speak about reporting, writing and ethics pertaining to obituary writing.

11:30 a.m. - Short subject to be determined.

Noon - 2011 SPOW Awards luncheon
Lunch followed by presentation of SPOW Awards.
Winners will be asked to share the story behind their winning obits and to take questions.



1-4 p.m. (in not particular order) - Award winners will continue the lunchtime talk, if necessary.
Dan Reimold, a journalism professor at the University of Tampa, and Michelle Boyet, a former online producer for The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, will present a session on blogging and social media.
"I’ve got something to say" - Obit writers talk about whatever’s on their minds.

Friday sessions will end no later than 4 p.m.

Saturday, May 14:
9 a.m.  - Brief explanation of Poynter Institute’s News University online obituary writing course by its instructor, Alana Baranick, a.k.a. SPOW director.



 9:30-11 a.m. -  Police Forum: A panel of St. Petersburg Times and Patch.com reporters and editors will discuss coverage of their city’s recent series of police shootings, obituaries written for the dead police, coverage of their funerals and other issues raised in the process. Local host Andrew Meacham will lead the forum.

11:30 a.m.-noon: Conference wrap-up, SPOW business, 2012 SPOW Convention.

Additional topics will be addressed before and after the aforementioned highlights. Our time at Poynter ends at noon Saturday. This will allow conferees to continue independent discussions off campus, if they like, do the tourist thing or leave town early.

Registration is being handled through EventBrite.com. Click here to read about and pay for registration fees and membership dues.

Hotel Indigo, 234 Third Ave. North, St. Petersburg, is our official conference hotel.

Make reservations by calling the hotel directly at 727.822.4814 by April 12, 2011, to get the Early Bird rate of $99 per night.

Rambling man: Nature lover’s life full of peaks, valleys

Another outstanding local news story. Who said good writing in small-town dailies is dead?

Mash those details

In case you haven't seen this on Facebook:

Overheard in the Newsroom

Obituary editor: “Can you imagine liking mashed potatoes so much that it’s included in your obituary?”

To us, that's a detail worth exploring.

Barbara "Bookie" Grasgreen, daughter of a "ne'er-do-well absentee father"

Barbara Grasgreen's family may have gotten carried away while writing Grasgreen's obituary that ran in the paid death notice section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Feb. 9, 2011. Or perhaps the deceased wrote her own obit in advance.

Whatever the case, the obit starts with an attention grabbing sentence:
BARBARA GRASGREEN "BOOKIE" (Weiner) was born in 1923 in Pittsburgh to immigrant parents; Morris, a cooper and ne'er-do-well absentee father and Ida Gorodinsky, a seamstress and dedicated, determined, nurturing mother.

Click here to read the whole obit before it disappears from the Internet.

Green Burial in Georgia

Green burial is gaining popularity. Our colleague Kate Sweeney, pictured here, has produced a piece on Georgia's only conservation burial ground for the Atlanta PBS station, WABE. Here's the link to Kate's story:
http://www.pba.org/programming/programs/citycafe/

Founded by monks of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit 80 years ago, the burial ground is filled not with tombstone after tombstone but with birds and trees and indigenous wildlife and flora.

Kate's segment records her trip to the burial ground with Pat Fahey who visits his wife, Jackie, buried there in a grave he and his sons dug.

Go with Kate to this conservation burial ground, one of only five in the nation.

Granny's Virtual Funeral

Can't make it to a funeral? Work, distance keeping you away? Not to worry. Now you can view the funeral online while at work or at a bar. The phenom may be coming to your town soon. Check out this New York Times article about the growth in the number of funeral homes now streaming funeral services online, some open to everyone, some by invitation only.
I found an online funeral site years ago and shared it with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newsroom. You can just imagine the comments that prompted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/fashion/25death.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

We Find That One Good Story

At the Lincoln Journal Star, Cindy Lange-Kubick tells the story of the dead to readers in Nebraska.

In the Sunday, Jan. 23 Journal Star, she has a 1A piece about her niche in the newsroom, http://journalstar.com/.

As a sidebar, Cindy interviewed me for a column, http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_1749d278-d583-51e6-b049-62ae875cf385.html.

It's always interesting to me to learn how different newspapers handle obits. I was delighted to talk with Cindy about the Journal Star's treatment of the interesting and notable people in its reader area when they die.

And, thanks to Alana and SPOW for keeping us all connected.

Preferred Notices

Mike King obituary: He was one of our own

A young reporter for The Gazette of Montreal recounts the unenviable task of writing the obituary for a colleague who died unexpectedly one weekend last summer.

Facebook-based Obituary: Marvelous? Or Creepy?

One of my Facebook Friends (Janice Harayda) posted a FB link to a Washington Post story titled "A Facebook story: A mother's joy and a family's sorrow."

Along with the link, Janice implores the Washington Post: "Please don't barge into my Facebook page after I die and annotate my posts (as) you did this poor woman's: http://wapo.st/keepout. The result may be moving, but the technique is morally creepy."

Your thoughts?

Obit Headline of the day

Maulana Marghuburrahman of Darul Uloom Deoband dies at 96

98 words

8 December 2010

UNI (United News of India)

UNNIND

English

Copyright 2010. HT Media Limited. All rights reserved.

New Delhi, Dec. 8 -- Maulana Marghuburrahman, Rector of Darul Uloom Deoband, died today at Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh after a prolonged illness. He was 96.

2011 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Awards and Conference

Finally, we've posted information about SPOW obit writing awards for 2011 on the awards page of our website.

This time, you've got more time to dust off and enter your best work of 2010, as we won't be presenting the awards until our conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., May 12-14, 2011. We'll have an awards luncheon and our professional development sessions at Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

The few details we have about the conference have been posted on our conference/convention page.

Our thanks to Cailin Brown, assistant professor of communications at The College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y., for agreeing to coordinate our awards contest again, and to Andrew Meacham of the St. Petersburg Times for acting as the local host for our conference.

Jim Naughton mourns the loss of newspaper obits for average and not-so-average Joes

Jim Naughton, president emeritus of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, wrote a compelling piece titled "A Death Notice for Obituaries?" that appears in today's (Nov. 29, 2010) edition of Obit magazine.

Your thoughts?

Her Final Martini

It's leads like this that instantly capture the subject and draw readers into the obit:"Bee Wood drank her final martini on November 14."

Though the rest of the family placed death notice is pretty standard,
you can read about this 90-year-old "red-haired spitfire" at
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tallahassee/obituary.aspx?n=bee-wood&pid=146715370.

The tail of the death notice is the YouTube link to Bee singing "Sentimental Journey"

http://youtu.be/neiDXZpNo5A.

The obit ran in the Tallahassee Democrat on Nov. 21, 2010.

Dumbledore's obituary from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"

I can't help wondering whether the film version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will include the conversation about Albus Dumbledore's obituary that appears in the book.

Dumbledore friend Elphias Doge wrote an obit for the Hogwarts headmaster that was more of a tribute than a straightforward news obit. It was commentary, written from the perspective of an admirer.

In the obit, Doge didn't reveal any secrets that would make Dumbledore or his family seem less than saintly.

At the wedding reception (Bill Weasley marries Fleur Delacour, in case you didn't know), Ron Weasley’s nasty Auntie Muriel says to Doge, "I noticed how you skated over the sticky patches in that obituary of yours."

Doge replies, "I assure you I was writing from the heart."

Sounds familiar, even in the Muggle world.

Congrats to Colleagues

Our magnificent colleagues Jade Walker and Jim Nicholson now can be viewed on the CBS News Sunday Morning obit writing segment posted on YouTube. They are smart and insightful. I'm included as the comic relief.

The video is also in a post right below this one.

The Sunday Morning crew, talented producer Steve Glauber and noted interviewer Jeff Greenfield shadowed Society of Professional Obituary Writers at our 2010 conference in Philadelphia for the piece. They did an excellent job of editing our riveting interviews and adding New York Times interviews and visuals.

None of this would have come about were it not for the multi-year, tireless efforts of SPOW founder (though she resists being identified as such) Alana Baranick.

Thanks to all for so artfully presenting our craft and professional society to the world.

Obit writers on CBS Sunday Morning

"Offering the Last Word" on CBS Sunday Morning

CBS newsman Jeff Greenfield (pictured right), his producer Steve Glauber and a crew from CBS Sunday Morning spent the first day of the 2010 Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) convention at the Philadelphia Inquirer in April, interviewing obit writers and taping some portions of the gathering.

They were preparing a segment on obituaries for the Sunday morning TV magazine show.

They let us know several weeks later that they also would be interviewing folks at the New York Times about "Profiles 9/11/01," the compilation of mini-obits the paper ran on victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center for the segment.

The finished product, which finally aired as part of show's Halloween presentation of Oct. 31, 2010, focused on "everyman" obits, done by such writers as Jim Nicholson (pictured above left) for the Philadelphia Daily News and Kay Powell (pictured right) for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Among the highlights was the life-and-death philosophy of Jade Walker (pictured below), creator of the Blog of Death:

"Obits only have one line that deals with death. The rest of the story is about the amazing lives that people lead."

"Life is short. You have to make the most of it. I don't wait until the last moment to tell someone I love them. I don't wait to take that trip I've always wanted to take."

Click here to read the transcript.

"Death Notice" = Page Gripper

"Death Notice" is more than a page turner. It's a page gripper.

A couple of wrong takes on obit writers -- the protagonist is one -- don't mar this riveting mystery. Though, they do promote a stereotype beginning with author Todd Ritter's book jacket bio.


Ritter, pictured here and a New Jersey Star-Ledger reporter, tells us he has "interviewed celebrities, covered police standoffs, and even written obituaries."

Even?

Main character Henry Goll, Perry Hollow [PA] Gazette obit writer predictably referred to in the newsroom as Henry Ghoul, is asked, "Do you ever miss being a reporter?"

Goll's response, "I'm an obituary writer. Not a reporter."

Wrong.

Get past a few professional gaffs and get engrossed in this complex mystery where everyone is a believable suspect in small town Perry Hollow's first murder.

Ritter weaves an engaging story with enough of the macabre to have readers wondering if he experienced it himself to add such riveting detail. Was he buried alive? Were his lips sewn together? Has he floated in a pine coffin in a lake? Sniffed formaldehyde?

As journalists and obit writers, we've all had our share of bizarro -- the death notice faxed to obits just hours before the person commits suicide . . . or is murdered. But, would we let our jobs propel us into endangering our own lives?

Just released by Minotaur Books, "Death Notice" is a standout first novel. Read other reviews online and on Ritter's Web page: http://www.toddritteronline.com/. For this review, we wanted to examine how Ritter treats his obit writer. Goll is believable.

Outspoken Mime

Michael Sorkin wrote an obit for the Oct. 19, 2010, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Tim Thornton, a mime known professionally as Tim Angelo, who was exposed to cancer-causing Agent Orange while serving with the military in Vietnam.

Click here to read about the mime's life, military service and simultaneous battles with cancer and the government.

I love the way Michael ended the piece:
In his death notice Sunday in the Post-Dispatch, his family remembered him with the line: "A mime is a terrible thing to waste."

At Long Last: CBS Sunday Morning to Air Segment Mentioning Society of Professional Obituary Writers

Jeff Greenfield, producer Steve Glauber and a CBS News crew spent the first day of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) convention at the Philadelphia Inquirer in April 2010 to gather information, interview some SPOW members and record conference happenings for a CBS Sunday Morning segment.

Since that time, the CBS folks have conducted more research and more interviews on the subject of obits for the segment. Over the summer, CBS Sunday Morning has focused on covering mostly breaking news stories and rerunning previously aired segments.

Today we were told that the obits segment is scheduled to air on Oct. 31, 2010. Yep! Halloween! Seems kind of appropriate with tombstones and all that jazz, dontcha think?

Set your DVRs to record the show so you don't miss it. But bear in mind that the Halloween obits segment might be bumped and rescheduled for a later date.

A life in clips

The Guardian's obituary of comic film actor Norman Wisdom is brilliantly presented online with written introductions to a succession of clips.

Posting faces to go with the names

Tom Hawthorn posted the previous blog item about an obit written by Andrew Meacham for the St. Petersburg Times.

Both men are top winners of Society of Professional Obituary Writers Awards.

Thought you might like to associate their faces with their names.

Here's a photo of Tom from his own blog, http://tomhawthorn.blogspot.com/.


Here's Andy.

Cute guys, eh?

Cruel reader comment leads to writing of formal obituary

An offensive and, it must be noted, idiotic comment by a reader left online for a short news story about the hit-and-run death of a restaurant dishwasher in Florida led the St. Petersburg Times to assign a formal obituary.

Hit-and-run victim was quiet and dependable, co-workers say

By Andrew Meacham, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, September 29, 2010

ST. PETERSBURG — About 11 p.m. Sept. 12, a car struck Neil Alan Smith and threw him off his bicycle on Fourth Street N. The car didn't stop.

Mr. Smith, who was pedaling home from his job as a dishwasher at the Crab Shack, struck his head on a light post.

He was taken to Bayfront Medical Center. He died there six days later. He was 48.

Police have not located the hit-and-run driver.

Shortly after the St. Petersburg Times announced Mr. Smith's death on its website, a reader posted a comment stating the following: A man who is working as a dishwasher at the Crab Shack at the age of 48 is surely better off dead.

Web editors removed the comment, deeming it an offensive and insensitive insult to a dead man's friends and family. Though hardly unusual — check out the comments beneath stories about any recent tragedy — this one spurred the Times to make Mr. Smith the subject of this story, as a reminder that every life matters.

This much is certain about Mr. Smith: A number of people miss him.

He had a small but loyal network of co-workers and friends who are planning soon to celebrate his life.

They all describe Mr. Smith as steady and dependable. He rode his bicycle nearly 4 miles each way from the Hollywood Trailer Park on Fourth Street N to the Crab Shack on Gandy Boulevard, where he had worked for the past 10 years. In a business known for turnover, that is considered a long time.

"I'll probably go through another 10 people to find somebody like him," said Tyrone Dayhoff, 53, the Crab Shack's manager.

He started out busing tables and was very fast, but preferred the shelter of his dishwashing station in the back of the kitchen. He could listen to sports talk radio there.

Amid the steam and the withering heat of the dishwashing machine, he didn't have to make small talk. He liked to sit out back on cigarette breaks, in a plastic chair with his back to the walk-in freezer and facing a wooden fence and beyond it, the Gandy Bridge. Or he rode his bicycle to a nearby RaceTrac station to refill his giant soda cup.

He restocked the shelves with the pots, pans and dishes he had washed, hosed down the rubber mats and swept and mopped the floors. Mr. Smith earned $7.25 an hour, Florida's minimum wage.

Jeff Lackey, who lives across the street from Mr. Smith's address at Hollywood Park, recalled one of the rare conversations Mr. Smith initiated.

"I was coming back from the Dumpster and he invited me over," said Lackey, 53. "He said, 'Jeff, I've worked at Crab Shack for 10 years. I never got a raise or a Christmas bonus. I never even got a card.' "

At the end of his shift — the palms of his hands wrinkled and white — he grabbed two Budweisers from the bar, his unofficial but openly acknowledged gratuity, and pedaled home.

Mr. Smith did not talk much about his past, friends and co-workers said. Both his parents are deceased. Police list Debra Coito of Haverhill, Mass., as his sister. Friends say she was a twin, but that he almost never mentioned her. Records show a Debra Coito in Massachusetts with the same birth date as Mr. Smith's. She could not be reached for comment for this story.

"He set his boundaries," said Peggy Rogers, 56, his roommate of six years. "He didn't pry into your business, so you just kind of respected that and you didn't do that to him."

He told friends he had been married and divorced, had managed a gas station in New Hampshire before moving to Florida in 1999. He got a concession stand job at Derby Lane, then started working at the Crab Shack.

He lived in a mobile home near the restaurant and paid rent to the owner, Bonnie Schaeffer-Mott. Once, when she feared the power company would shut off the electricity, she asked Mr. Smith for help.

He gave her more than what she had asked to borrow and insisted she take it. "I'll never forget that," said Schaeffer-Mott, 51.

Mr. Smith bought his own trailer at the Snug Harbor Mobile Home Park, but home ownership didn't last long. A developer bought the park in 2006, forcing residents out. Mr. Smith and Rogers, then a Crab Shack waiter, moved to two other mobile home parks before settling at Hollywood Park.

He rarely strayed from work or home. On days off he drank a few Budweisers and watched sports, especially his beloved Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots. Rogers wouldn't let him smoke inside, so he sat on the porch with a Marlboro and headphones listening to Aerosmith or Celine Dion.

"Oh, my gaaahhd, she's the best sinnga on the plaaaahhnet," he would say in his New England accent.

He broke no laws, other than a 2007 open-container violation.

Every year, Rogers put up a small artificial Christmas tree and decorated it. "I kind of forced him" to celebrate holidays, Rogers said. She gave him a mountain bike after his was stolen, and bought extra reflectors for his birthday. Because it was important not to wait, she gave him the reflectors Sept. 10, before his birthday.

Two days later, Mr. Smith had nearly finished the bike ride home from work and was just a block from the mobile home park when a car hit his bicycle from the rear in the 7300 block of Fourth Street N. Witnesses reported it was a white or light-colored midsized sedan — possibly a Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable. Police said that Mr. Smith was following bicycle safety recommendations such as wearing light-colored clothing, using reflectors and riding in the bicycle lane.

His head struck a metal light pole. He never regained consciousness.

After examining his wallet, police went to the Crab Shack first, then to Rogers' mobile home. At 11:30 p.m., they knocked on her door.

For six days, Mr. Smith lay unresponsive in Bayfront Medical Center. Rogers brought in a CD player and played Celine Dion.

Mr. Smith died Sept. 18, three days before his 49th birthday.

Dayhoff, his boss at Crab Shack, read the story on the Times website and found himself outraged by unsympathetic comments posted by some readers.

"I just can't get over some of those people reacting the way they did," he said. "This guy was a human being. He might not have meant something to somebody else, but he was like family to us. He meant something to us."

On Sept. 21, Mr. Smith's birthday, Rogers drank one of the two beers he had left in the refrigerator and talked on the phone to Schaeffer-Mott.

Once Mr. Smith's body is cremated, Schaeffer-Mott wants to take his remains to Boston, then New Hampshire. Maybe she will spread a pinch outside the Boston Garden and Fenway Park, where the Celtics and Red Sox play.

Then she hopes to go to New Hampshire and put the rest of his remains at his parents' graves — if she can find them.

She will call Rogers, who will then drink the remaining beer in the refrigerator.

They will toast the memory of a solitary man who knew his likes and lived within his means, a man who could be counted upon.

Andrew Meacham can be reached at (727) 892-2248 or ameacham@sptimes.com.

Games people play: Name that obit!

Have you heard about the new obit-related contest called "Mystery Obit?"

Each weekday from Monday, Sept. 13, 2010, through Monday, Oct. 11, 2010, Todd Ritter, author of the soon-to-be-released mystery titled "Death Notice," will post a brief obituary of some unnamed famous person.

Game players will be asked to guess the identity of the person identified in the obit.

The way the contest description is worded, it's unclear to me whether all of the mystery obits are for historic figures or at least for the already dead.

Real prizes are involved in this contest: a basket of mystery books courtesy of St. Martin's Minotaur and an autographed copy of Todd Ritter's "Death Notice," which will be released Oct. 12, 2010. (Sorry. No cash.)

Visit Ritter's Mystery Obit Contest page for details.