Friday, April 20, 2012

The Wire's blog posts earns third place in SPJ Detroit awards


The award certificate for blogging I received for my writing on
The Wire.


I started blogging on Manchester more than a year ago, as a directive for work. But in that time, I've embraced the inside look at Manchester, and the time spent has earned some recognition.

I attended the annual Society of Professional Journalists Detroit Chapter banquet in Troy Wednesday night. There, I received a third place award for blogging, which was all done here on The Wire.

I submitted three posts, including my one on redistricting, and come in third. The first and second place finishers in the category, which was open to all publications in the state, were from the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Not bad names to be mentioned with.

Each entry was judged by non-local journalists from all over the Midwest, and each winner had comments left by them. Here's what they said about this blog:

"Veselenak's blog is a great read because it goes beyond the story, to reveal the details of 'local reporting' that used to be the grist of community journalism. It's exceptional because its so simple. Interesting stories about the community. His piece on a local candidate who failed to obtain a single vote, even her own, is great journalism because at its most basic level, is what we're here to do."
The write-up on the "local candidate who failed to obtain a single vote" is slightly misleading, as I used an example from the Flint-area as a way to show the power of the vote, not Manchester (Everyone in the village elections this time got a vote, even though there weren't that many).

Even though I'm not doing as much Manchester blogging these days, I'm still popping in and writing when something hits me as a blog post. I'm hoping to continue to find interesting tidbits that might not be story-worthy, but quick post-worthy. Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

My day with Mark Ouimet

My Monday morning started off like any other day. I began my 40-minute drive to Saline with 102.9 FM on the radio. That morning, State Representative Mark Ouitmet, R-Scio Township, was a guest on the morning show, playing "Make me Say Wow." If callers told a story that made Ouimet say, "Wow," they would win concert tickets. Ouimet felt all the stories had a wow factor and all the callers walked away with concert tickets.

I thought Ouimet sounded very awake and that it must have been an early morning for him. Little did I know, it would be an early morning and a late night.

At 12 p.m., I arrived in downtown Manchester to attend the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce meeting. Shortly after I sat down, in walked Ouimet, who stayed for the entire meeting.

At 7 p.m., I walked into the Sharon Township Hall for the monthly board of trustees meeting and who was there? Ouimet of course. After talking with the residents and answering questions, Ouimet said he was headed to Saline Township for another meeting.

I was impressed with Ouimet's drive. I had been stressed covering just two meetings, but Ouimet made it to a radio show, three meetings and who knows what in-between, all in one day.

As he left to go to Saline Township, Ouimet joked that he'd see me tomorrow.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Sunblossom Solar Gifts makes it onto "Made in Michigan" on WWJ Radio

Another Manchester business is being highlighted in a bigger media market.

Sunblossom Solar Gifts, 131 Adrian St., was recently featured on WWJ 950 as a part of the Made in Michigan series.

Marie Osborne, host of the show, interviewed President Bonnie Greenwald about the products at the shop during the minute-long clip.

Miss hearing it on the radio? Take a listen to the clip below: