Broadcasting positive news live

Top three winning students

Excellence in Education is a 19-year-old program here at The Oakland Press.
It was started by retired Senior Editor John Cusumano as a way to showcase positive stories from local school districts.
I first became involved with this program as an Editorial Assistant back in 2005. It's hard to believe so many years have passed now.
Year after year, I'm impressed and humbled by the students we honor.
This year, we got to open this wonderful event to the whole world via a livestream on our website.

Livestream replay: 2011 Excellence in Education Awards

Video streaming by Ustream 

Afterward, I also shot video of the winners with my Flipcam

I also filed the story for today's paper from the event using Google Docs and the iPad. I wrote the shell of the story in advance — the basic information about the program, the scholarship amounts and donations, etc. — while in the office and saved it to Google Docs.

Me (left) with third place program winners

After interviewing the winners with my Flipcam, I added quotes and color to the story. I have to admit, it wasn't the most enjoyable experience in the world to work on the iPad. Most frustrating was the fact that, despite my best efforts, Google Docs would not let me "select all" so I could copy & paste into an email. Instead, I called the copydesk, got in touch with someone who had a gmail account and made them an editor. They were able to retrieve the story that way.

Also, being in a hurry to file my story made the iPad keyboard all the more annoying. I wish I had one of those fold-out attachments ...

Either way, it worked out. Here are the story files: 

Berkley student wins top Excellence in Education Award WITH VIDEO

REPLAY: Excellence in Education livestream