You, too, can write
a narrative

DEKALB -- Narrative writing on deadline? Doesn't that belong with oxymorons like jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly and old news?

Nope, says Tom Hallman Jr. Even the most overworked journalists at the smallest newspapers can learn to write a narrative story when the occasion calls for it.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter will preach that message at NINA's Fall Conference Oct. 22 at Northern Illinois University. Many of the stories Hallman will use as examples were reported and written in just a few hours.

The morning program precedes NINA's annual awards luncheon, when winners of the annual newspaper contest will be announced.
Hallman, 49, writes for The Oregonian in his hometown of Portland, Ore., as a senior reporter specializing in features/narratives. He won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for "The Boy Behind the Mask," a story about a Portland teen with a rare birth defect.

Hallman graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1977. He's worked at The Oregonian since 1980, first covering crime and now writing features. Along with his 2001 award, he has been a Pulitzer finalist in both beat reporting and feature writing. He also has won numerous writing awards from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the National Society of Professional Journalists and Scripps Howard Newspapers. Three of his stories were reprinted by Readers Digest, and one was featured on ABC News 20/20. "Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask" also was released as a book in 2003.

To read "The Boy Behind the Mask":

• www.pulitzer.org/year/2001/feature-writing/works
• www.oregonlive.com/mask
  
  

Schedule

9:30 to 10 a.m.
Registration and coffee: Campus Life Building.

10 to 11:50 a.m.
Tom Hallman on narrative writing - Campus Life Building, Room 100

Noon
Keynote address - Tom Hallman Jr., The Oregonian
Duke Ellington Ballroom, Holmes Student Center (first floor)
(note room change)

Awards luncheon. Duke Ellington Ballroom

Registration

Newspaper registration fee (and first participant): $60. Each add'l participant: $30. Registration includes luncheon, morning refreshments, program and parking. Registration deadline: Friday, Oct. 15. Call Dana Ditrichs-Kunkel at 815-753-1564. Or, print this page, fill in necessary information and fax to Dana at 815- 753-7109. Payment is encouraged by Oct. 15, but checks (no cash) also will be accepted at the door. Make checks payable to Northern Illinois Newspaper Association.

Name of Newspaper:

Address:

Contact person and phone #:

Name(s) of attendees:

Parking: Participants may park free of charge at the Newman Catholic Student Center (on Newman Drive, directly behind the Campus Life Building). Parking passes will be mailed to those who register for the conference by Oct. 15. Those who register after Oct. 15 will need to pick up their parking passes at the NINA registration table on the morning of the conference.

Cancellations: Please notify us as soon as possible. Call 815- 753-1564.

Refunds: Individual registration fees cannot be refunded after Oct. 15 because of meal guarantees with NIU.

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