Personal Journeys: Green Eyeshade Award Winners

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Personal Journeys 2012: Five AJC writers won 2nd place in the 63rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for best features writing.

ABOUT THE STORY: Mark Davis learned of the death of Army Spc. Erica Alecksen and wrote about a visitation her family held to remember Erica, killed at 21. Seven weeks later, Erica’s grandmother emailed Davis, telling him that the soldier’s father had died of a heart attack. AN EXCERPT FROM 'A FAMILY FRACTURED': "Death comes in its own time. Sometimes it comes too soon. And people like Doria and Charles are left to work through the grief and figure out a way to go on. Doria was forced to confront her conflicted emotions about her husband, a hard man who doted on his only daughter. For his part, Charles faced the truth of a father who played favorites and the loss of his only sister."

Mark Davis joined the AJC in 2003 after working at the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Tampa Tribune and CNN. A native of North Carolina, Davis is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He has spent his career reporting on heroes, bums and creatures that walk, swim, crawl and fly.

ABOUT THE STORY: Jill Vejnoska flies home to be with her mother during Hurricane Sandy and faces the heavy responsibility of caring for an aging parent. AN EXCERPT FROM 'HURRICANE SEASON': "I hadn’t known that bad weather was literally bearing down on New Jersey when I’d arranged to spend a long weekend with Mom following her most recent hospitalization. Yet compared to all the other storms, I reassured myself, this was the first one I knew I could handle. And the last one I ever expected to break me."

Jill Vejnoska joined the AJC in 1991 and has covered everything from sports and politics to television and food. Some of the stories she’s covered include Hillary Clinton’s first Senate campaign and synchronized swimming at the Olympics. A native of Westfield, N.J., she was educated at Harvard and Columbia University.

ABOUT THE STORY: Helena Oliviero details the fight against a rare kidney disease that struck twice in one family. AN EXCERPT FROM 'THE PERFECT MATCH': "When Lori Dickman brought her son to the family pediatrician in March 2011 for a routine strep test, she wasn’t prepared for the diagnosis: Bryson, like Sarah, had inherited a genetic kidney disorder. When she heard the diagnosis, she fell to her knees. Dickman felt dizzy worrying about what lay ahead: endless doctor’s appointments, sleepless nights, fear that rarely left her mind. So Dickman did what she’d done before. She posted fliers begging for a kidney for a boy with sky blue eyes who loved basketball."

Helena Oliviero joined the AJC in 2002 as a features writer. Previously she worked for the Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Knight Ridder as a correspondent in Mexico. The leader of the pack in Personal Journeys, she’s written five to date. She was educated at the University of San Francisco.

ABOUT THE STORY: Rosalind Bentley profiles U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, who mines poetry to explore the pain and struggle of her past. AN EXCERPT FROM 'THE NATION'S POET': "The shorthand of Natasha’s life reads like words plucked from a free verse poem: Native Mississippian. Black mother. White father. Poet father. Poet daughter. Atlanta and DeKalb public school student. 'A' student. UGA head cheerleader. Trauma survivor. Big sister. Decatur resident. Meticulous housekeeper. Proud wife. Exacting professor. Historical poet. Nobody’s pushover. She has publicly sketched the arc of her life in her poems, yet she is intensely protective of its sweetest moments."

Rosalind Bentley joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2004. Recent stories have included features on Living Walls and the “Frida & Diego” show at the High Museum. Prior to joining the AJC, she was a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of race relations in Minnesota. She was educated at Florida A&M University.

ABOUT THE STORY: Bill Torpy follows former Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson's road back from the brink of suicide. AN EXCERPT FROM 'AFTER THE FALL': "Through guile and force of personality, Glenn Richardson was known to Republicans in the state House as a leader who delivered his party into power after a century in the wilderness. As Georgia’s speaker of the House, he was the state’s second most powerful man. But the pressures of his job, combined with an insatiable appetite for the trappings of success, were feeding his ruin. On Nov. 8, 2009, he was just a depressed, lonely man who saw no other way out of a self-induced spiral."

Bill Torpy joined the AJC in 1990. Previously he worked for the Daily Southtown in Chicago. Reporting on politics and crime, he covered former Mayor Bill Campbell’s corruption trial and the police shooting of Kathryn. The Chicago native is a graduate of Southern Illinois University.

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ABOUT THE STORY: Mark Davis learned of the death of Army Spc. Erica Alecksen and wrote about a visitation her family held to remember Erica, killed at 21. Seven weeks later, Erica’s grandmother emailed Davis, telling him that the soldier’s father had died of a heart attack. AN EXCERPT FROM 'A FAMILY FRACTURED': "Death comes in its own time. Sometimes it comes too soon. And people like Doria and Charles are left to work through the grief and figure out a way to go on. Doria was forced to confront her conflicted emotions about her husband, a hard man who doted on his only daughter. For his part, Charles faced the truth of a father who played favorites and the loss of his only sister."

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