IU, Ball State students take top Keating awards

Victoria Ison, Claire Wiseman and Katie Mettler took 2nd, 3rd and 1st place honors in this year's Keating Feature Writing contest.

Katie Mettler of Indiana University won the 26th Annual Thomas R. Keating Feature Writing Program in Indianapolis on Saturday, Nov. 10, with her story of a former karate master now homeless after being seriously injured in a mugging.

The Indianapolis Press Club Foundation sponsors and runs the Keating writing challenge program, which features 10 finalists representing Indiana’s best and sharpest college journalism students.

 Mettler was awarded first place and prize money of $2,500 for her feature story.

 Finishing in second and earning $1,250 was Victoria Ison of Ball State University, and Claire Wiseman of Indiana University earned third place and $750.

The Fountain Square Historic District in Indianapolis was the site and subject matter for the Keating program’s 2012 Writing Challenge. Keating finalists were dropped off at Fountain Square at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning and given four hours to develop and write a feature story. The Indianapolis Star provided space in its newsroom for the finalists to craft their stories.

The program is named in honor of Tom Keating, a popular former Indianapolis Star columnist and Lilly Endowment executive who died in 1985 at the age of 45.

Forty students from colleges around the state entered the contest. A panel of judges chose 10 finalists who competed Saturday.  Besides the top finishers, the finalists included: Kirsten Clark of Indiana University; Ellen Kobe of DePauw University; Michael Majchrowicz of Indiana University; Jake New of Indiana University; Andrew Owens of the University of Notre Dame; Samuel Stryker of Notre Dame and Jessica Wray of Franklin College.

Board members of the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation presented the awards and cash prizes Saturday night at the Skyline Club in downtown Indianapolis.

Jeffrey H. Smulyan, chairman, president and CEO of Emmis Communications, was the keynote speaker. He spoke about how the media need to find new business models for their products.

Each Keating finalist also received $100 and a copy of the book “Indiana Faces and Other Places,” a collection of Keating’s work for The Star from 1966-1982.

Since its inception in 1986, the Keating program has donated more than $116,000 to Indiana college and university students.

Note: Read the winning and finalist entries in the contest.