Attention to detail means everything in journalism, says Sarah Daniels, who won the Rookie of the Year award from the New York Press Association in 2004. At that time, she was a reporter for the Messenger Post Newspapers in western New York. She now reports on education and writes general assignment stories for Patuxent Publishing/Tribune Company in Maryland.

A grammar-geek herself, Daniels recommends that same status to students. “You won’t get very far without the ability to write well-structured, grammatically correct stories,” she says. “And a lackadaisical attitude won’t result in either success or satisfaction.”

Noting that there are “easier and more lucrative careers” Daniels says, “Be sure that journalism and news are your passion.” As a lover of people by nature, she says few careers are as personally rewarding as that in which your job is to talk to people in your community and tell their stories. “This is not a career choice for shrinking violets.”

Having a passion for reporting means not only enjoying the work, but also wanting to talk about it and learn more about the best ways to do the job. Daniels continues to have great conversations with Rick Woodson, who was her mentor at the MP newspapers.

“Rick and I talk about everything having to do with news. He brings decades of experience and rich insights to our conversations about what’s in the news and how it’s getting covered and what could be done differently—done better.”

As new methods of information delivery evolve, Daniels has faith that the basic values of a well-reported story will remain. Everything outside of the largest national newspapers (Wall Street Journal and The New York Times) will become hyper-local if her sense of the future is correct.

She uses as an example a situation in Howard County, where high-density housing is a common living standard. In one townhouse community, power was lost five times in a period of nine months. Because the junction box was buried beneath a resident’s driveway, it meant five incidents of having the driveway dug up while repairs were made. “Now, that’s a situation that doesn’t have wide reader appeal,” Daniels says. “But to the residents of that community, and to the woman whose life was disturbed so dramatically and so often, it really matters.”

Daniels’s main beat these days is as education reporter for the Howard County Times and the Columbia Flier, sister newspapers of the Baltimore Sun. The school system in the area is comprised of a host of lower division schools feeding into 12 large high schools. The Howard County School System has an operating budget of $661 million and a capital budget of $100 million.

“It’s big. But for me, it’s one story at a time,” Daniels says. “Covering education puts me into the community, puts me in touch with children. I just love telling their stories and showing readers how excited the children are about learning.”

Daniels says winning the NYPA Better Newspaper Contest Rookie of the Year award was a great honor and a boost to her resume.

“Still,” she says, “It’s good for us all to remember that a journalist is only as good as her last story.”

By Linda Loomis

Write her at lloomis@oswego.edu.