Updated February 15, 2021, changing “finalist” to “winner.” 🙂
I’m thrilled to share the news that this story I wrote for The Washington Post has been named the winner in the category of best newspaper article/any topic in the annual writing competition of the Dog Writers Association of America.
There’s a fun postscript to this article, too. The story is about the way the Covid-19 pandemic halted a lot of service-dog training, leaving people with disabilities without dogs to help them live their fullest possible lives. The man I wrote about in the story’s opener (pictured here) was struggling because he’s blind, and he needed a service dog to help him cross a busy road to get to the Tractor Supply store to buy things including dog food—while his wife was pulling double shifts as an emergency-room nurse treating Covid-19 patients.
The good people at Tractor Supply read the article, reached out to me and asked how to contact the man. They sent him a bunch of dog food, so he wouldn’t have to worry about crossing that busy road.
Congratulations to all the other winners in this DWAA category and others.
