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Early Bird Column Named “Best of Show” in Ohio Competition 

 

 

A column for the Darke County Daily Advocate/Early Bird was named the first place “Best of Show” entry in the newly announced Ohio Society of Professional Journalists 2021 competition. 

The winner in the under-60,000 circulation category was Hank Nuwer for his “Near Darke” column. Erik Martin, who edited the column, submitted the required six sample columns from Nuwer to judges representing the Cincinnati/Cleveland/Columbus SPJ chapters.

Judges wrote this: Distinctive voice, erudite but conversational, interesting and varied subject matter

Nuwer, age 75, was newly moved to Union City, Ohio in 2020 when he began his weekly column about historical events on both sides of the stateline border. Many of his columns were illustrated with photos taken by his wife Malgorzata (Gosia) Wroblewska-Nuwer.

 

“I was pleased and honored to win columnist of the year because the competition was judged by a jury of my peers,” Nuwer said. “I’m grateful to Eric and the Early Bird for a chance to showcase my writing.”

 

Nuwer retired in 2020 as a tenured full professor at Franklin College after 18 years teaching journalism, including classes on column writing. He previously taught at Ball State University and was elected to the BSU Journalism Hall of Fame in 2010. 

 

Nuwer has been a member of SPJ since 1985 and writes for the group’s flagship magazine The Quill. His byline as a freelance writer also appears in national magazines such as The Conversation, Harper’s, GQ, Outside and the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

 

He is currently under contract to write a biography of the late novelist Kurt Vonnegut for Indiana University Press.

 

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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