EBITS - the latest online obituary venture - fires a warning shot....

Pretty lame.

MyEbituary LLC Declares Death of the Obituary with New Social Media-Based Ebits On Myebit.com, users can create and interact with virtual memorial scenes KENOSHA, Wis., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Conventional obituaries may have been laid to rest as MyEbituary LLC, a new memorial site startup, introduces ebituaries to the world of social media. Ebits, as they are called, allow users to create a unique type of online obituary that centers upon an interactive scene of remembrance that can be customized with various landscapes, headstones, urns and other decorations that users embed into the scene. (Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130515/PH14068-a) (Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130515/PH14068-b) Hoping to change the outdated mode of conventional obituaries that have not evolved with the expansion in interactive online graphics applications, the company expects to eventually have ebits created for the approximately 8,000 people who pass away each day in the United States. According to company president Michael Boozer, "People deserve to be remembered online by something more than just a static photograph and some text placed on a webpage, especially with today's technology." Ebits can be created for loved ones who have passed away or for current users who want to stake out a plot in the virtual world. Resembling a social media profile, myebit.com allows people to write their own ebituary in advance and share their ebits across major social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. The scenes are interactive allowing visitors to show their respects by placing tributes such as flowers, awareness ribbons, crosses and other objects directly into the scene. Tributes can be embedded anywhere into the scene along with a short message of condolence that appears when hovering over it. Scenes are designed using a variety of different landscapes or users can upload their own, such as an actual photograph of a real cemetery, allowing distant friends and relatives the opportunity to reflect upon the deceased. Headstones or urns, engraved with an epitaph, are provided in numerous colors and styles while decorations, such as plants, trees, animated birds and other objects can be embedded into the scene to create a unique place of remembrance. "We wanted to replicate an actual cemetery or other resting place, where visitors are free to leave flowers and other tributes around a grave or other type of memorial," adds Mr. Boozer, stating that "Users can also designate caretakers to manage their ebit, who can decorate it for special occasions and manage tributes that are placed by others, just like in real life." Other features of the site allows users to create their own "Bucket List" and write their own "Last Words" that are unlocked upon their passing. Users can also create their own family burial plot by sharing the headstones of others and placing them into their scene for a single place of reflection. Launched in time for the Memorial Day holiday, the site is directed towards U.S. users but can be accessed worldwide by visiting myebit.com via the web or any mobile device. MyEbituary LLC was founded in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2011 Phone: (715) 869-3248 Contact: Michael Boozer Email Media Kit with Video and Image Downloads: www.myebit.com/press This press release was issued through eReleases® Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com. SOURCE MyEbituary LLC Web Site: https://www.myebit.com

Humorous Death Notices - an emerging subgenre?

It's not like we haven't seen funny death notices and homespun remembrances in the past, but recently we've had some great ones and after reading Antonia Larroux's, I'm wondering if we're seeing a full-scale trend

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=antonia-larroux&pid=164596250

Recall:

Harry Stamps

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sunherald/obituary.aspx?pid=163538353

Relatedly - but not quite the same thing - the very funny Val Patterson who used his death notice to reveal his lack of PhD and his safe-stealing legacy

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=val-patterson&pid=158526785

From a couple years ago:

Michael "Flathead" Blanchard

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/denverpost/obituary.aspx?pid=156944598

Obit contest deadline is May 4!

Multiple categories to suit your style.  Get your work out there for others to see.  Read about criteria and entry procedures on the new SPOW website.

A friends's diligent search

Whose life is "worthy" of a newspaper obituary?  Standards vary all over the place, of course, with papers such as the New York Times explicitly reserving that distinction for people of significant accomplishment.

By that definition alone, Roy Harris a former Wall Street Journal repoter and CFO magazine editor, figured his friend, artist Martyl Langsdorf, deserved more recognition than she got upon her death at 96. Langsdorf's "Doomsday clock" cover illustration for the June 1947 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , the minute hand approaching midnight, became a symbol for the nuclear threat worldwide and, later, climate change.

But even as a seasoned journalist, Harris discovered that selling editors of the largest newspapers on the value of an obit subject is easier said than done.  Here is his interesting account of his ultimately successful struggle to gain some recognition for a singular life. 

The Future of Obituaries

Greetings, friends. I've been invited to give a lecture at the SPOW conference about the future of obituaries and I need your assistance. If you're willing to help, please complete this 5-minute survey. I promise to share the results in June.

New SPOW website

The new website is SocietyOfProfessionalObituaryWriters.org. You will find basic Toronto conference information there and a link to register (as with the post below). At the moment the link above, "Click here to return to the Society of Professional Obituary Writers," goes to a defunct website, but that will soon be changed to go to the new one.

Society of Professional Obituary Writers Conference

 (re-posting the earlier item about the conference)

The 2013 SPOW Conference will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 7-9, 2013.

Go to http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5639271212# for a bit more information and to register.

Return to Obituary Forum for more details to be provided by local host Ron Csillag and his Canadian team.

A couple of thoughts on the NY Times obit controversy

Update:  I've thought about this some more (unlike most, apparently, I find this a tricky subject), and would qualify my post below in one way:  While I think most outraged readers of the Brill obit made little effort to get into the writer's head and imagine why he did what he did in the lede -- like, maybe this aspect of domesticity was that important to the subject?  and obits are about subject, not anyone else? -- it is still on  anyone publishing anything to anticipate public reaction.  I respect Martin and McDonald for standing behind their story (under Copernican pressure to recant), but the fact that they had no idea they might get the flak is on them.

One more note:  In discussion of this obit on the blog Jezebel, Andrea Tierson contributed this:

Maybe the Times was trying to humanize its subject. cf. the lede of the paper's Albert Einstein obit (1955): 

"In 1904, Albert Einstein, then an obscure young man of 23, could be seen daily in the late afternoon wheeling a baby carriage on the streets of Bern, Switzerland, halting now and then, unmindful to the traffic around him, to scribble down some mathematical symbols in the notebook that shared the carriage with his infant son, also named Albert."

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/topics/einstein-obit.pdf

Looks like he's being noted as world's best dad before his scientific prowess is mentioned.


Here is what is known about a New York Times obituary on rocket scientist Yvonne Brill, and the Twitter outrage that followed.The story's original lede read as follows:

She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off work to raise three children. 'The world's best mom,' her son Matthew said.

After a lot of outraged reactions on social media, the lede was subsequently changed to read:

She was a brilliant rocket scientist who followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children. “The world’s best mom,” her son Matthew said.

"New York Times Changes Sexist Obit About Scientist Yvonne Brill," the Daily Beast proclaimed.  "Responsive!" a Twitter follower noted approvingly.

Beyond reversing the order of her scientific and domestic lives and removing the stroganoff reference, the story remained unchanged.

Sullivan in a blog post today summarized her thoughts and the paper's decision to alter its lede.  She cited an interesting and useful Columbia Journalism Review article which alerts writers to avoid gender stereotyping when writing about female scientists; spoke with Martin and William McDonald, his editor (both of whom stood behind the original story); and concluded that framing the story as one about gender "had the effect of undervaluing what really landed Mrs. Brill on the Times obituaries page: her groundbreaking scientific work."

As an early and lonely defender of this obit, I would like to make just a few points:

The CJR article Sullivan cited as instructive in avoiding gender stereotypes quotes one of its primary sources saying it is legitimate in her view to bring gender discrimination issues into a profile of a woman in science:

For instance, if you’re writing a story about sexism in science or about the gender gap in leadership roles in science or you’re writing about sex-related issues specifically.
 
What’s not ok is to turn a story about a scientist’s professional life into one about her personal life or her gender roles..

Brill was denied the option of majoring in her chosen field of engineering at the University of Manitoba, ostensibly due to a lack of accommodations.  While I understand that obits about any minority or underrepresented group present ready-made cliches for the taking -- and that one of these can be that the subject "overcame barriers" -- not being able to major in your chosen field to me seems like an obstacle worth reporting.

No fair reading of Martin's obit could lead one to conclude that Brill's many contributions, from developing more efficient rocket thrusters to contributing to rocket and satellite designs -- work that landed her in the Inventors Hall of Fame -- were remarkable because, as the CJR piece correctly warns us against doing, "She accomplished all of this while being a woman!"

The stroganoff lede that aroused so much controversy sets up a different, and more complicated, kind of contrast -- between a woman who preferred to be addressed as "Mrs.," and who embraced some of those societal norms about gender while, yes, overcoming them.

Also on Monday, writer Paul Carr on pandodaily took on what he called "readers of the Daily Internet Outrage Memo."  It's an interesting take, and the points he makes about writing are particularly relevant.

At the same time, I would not dismiss objections to the original lede as groundless.  I can  see how it looks: after a century of consciousness raising about gender equality and seemingly great strides forward, an eminent newspaper bends over backwards to link a brilliant female scientist to her cooking.

I just think a lot of the people protesting this are getting the story wrong. 

Society of Professional Obituary Writers Conference

The 2013 SPOW Conference will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 7-9, 2013.

Go to http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5639271212# for a bit more information and to register.

Return to Obituary Forum for more details to be provided by local host Ron Csillag and his Canadian team.

MSN news reporter Eli Epstein interviewed me for this piece, posted online March 14.

Thanks to Marilyn Johnson, our supporter and author of The Dead Beat, for suggesting that Eli interview me. Through the Harry Stamps obit that has gone viral, interest in obits is, as they say, trending. His obit and the reaction to it have prompted many follow-up articles and columns on the back story.

I recently gave a talk on family-written death notice and now consider myself ambidextobitrous: I work both sides of the obits street. Hoping to see you all in Toronto.

SPOW member in the running for literary prize

Sandra Martin, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, in December was named one of 15 writers in the running for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction.

Martin's book,  Working the Dead Beat: 50 Lives that Changed Canada  (House of Anansi Press, September 2012), offers a historical view of Canada through the lives of individuals she had written about.  In book length, she accomplishes what cannot be done in a newspaper obituary -- present a fuller context of what she calls "transformative lives."  Subjects include Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, and urban theorist Jane Jacobs. 

Martin offers "a select history of Canada told through extended obituaries of both the known and the unknown, researched energetically and written graciously," writes Canadian journalist Paula Todd. "Her tone is thoughtful, her scolding scant, and almost all of the transformative Canadians are presented in the context of their own struggles."

Author Ted Barris, a journalism professor at Centennial College in Toronto and a veteran CBC radio contributor, calls Martin "the obit queen of Canada."  Working the Dead Beat includes Sandra's reflections on what she has learned from writing obituaries.  You can find her discussing the book here and, briefly, here.

Congratulations to Sandra on this important book!

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