Matt Hansen anchors Nebraska's third-place finish in Hearst contest
By Charlyne Berens
J Alumni News editor
It was anything but a traditional hard-news lead.
Covering a lethal bank robbery in Norfolk in September 2002, Matthew Hansen started his Daily Nebraskan story this way:
"No one shut off the sign.
"It blinked time and temperature and kept advertising the best loan rates in Norfolk, strange digital normalcy in an otherwise horrific Thursday.
"When that sign read approximately 8:45 a.m., three armed men entered the U.S. Bank branch at 13th Street and Pasewalk Avenue.
"The ensuing gunfire left five dead and one wounded, the nation's deadliest bank robbery in at least a decade."
That eye for telling details and compelling irony that other reporters might miss helped Hansen join the ranks of the most recognized Nebraska student journalists in recent years.
He anchored Nebraska's third place finish in the Hearst 2002-03 Journalism Awards Program, taking a third place in the sports reporting category and sixth in depth reporting. Those awards garnered enough points to qualify him for a berth in the finals, held in June in San Francisco. Hansen finished third in that intense write-off competition.
Last year, Hansen finished first in the Hearst sports competition and also qualified for the finals but did not place in San Francisco. In 2001, NU's Brian Carlson won the final write-off. This year, Hansen is also one of three finalists in both the magazine category and the feature story category in the Society of Professional Journalists awards program. Winners will be announced in the fall.
"Matthew Hansen has probably had as good a year as any student in recent memory," said Joe Starita, news-ed professor and director of the college's Hearst program. "Matthew finished third in the national writing championship, went to Cuba (with the 2003 depth reporting class) and produced two exemplary stories out of that adventure and is the only student in the country who is a finalist in two different categories in the national SPJ competition."
But it's not winning awards that inspires Hansen. While he appreciated the opportunity to compete under pressure at the Hearst finals, Hansen said he considers contests mostly just pleasant rewards for hard work: "If you put too much stock in that sort of insular competition, you're bound to become a worse - not a better - journalist."
It's the work itself that Hansen finds satisfying. In addition to the chance to cover breaking news like the Norfolk bank robbery, he wrote a number of highly acclaimed feature stories that were published in the Daily Nebraskan, the Lincoln Journal Star and in several of the college's depth reports.
Hansen said he is most proud of the story he wrote about entertainer and Lincoln native Dick Cavett. "I've never worked harder on a story than I did on the Cavett profile," Hansen said. "I basically shut myself in an office at the Daily Nebraskan and wrote and rewrote for three days." The story appeared as a front-page Sunday feature in the Lincoln Journal Star.
The May 2003 graduate marvels at the opportunities he had during his student years. "In college, I got the chance to sit with Cavett on his porch in the Hamptons and sit with (state senator) Ernie Chambers in his legislative office. ... I watched Nebraskans grieve in Norfolk and watched Cubans dance in Havana. I covered so many other things seemingly more insignificant but often every bit as fascinating."
Hansen is spending the summer at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. His long-term goal, "in my perfect world," is to work for a major newspaper as an enterprise reporter or as a writer for a magazine.
That is a realistic goal, Starita said. "Matthew Hansen's writing instincts are as good as those of any student we've had here in a long time, and it will be no surprise if he turns those instincts lose on the national stage and makes a name both for himself and for Nebraska."
Other UNL students who placed in this year's Hearst competition are Brian Christopherson, who took fourth in sports writing; Anna Jo Bratton, 11th in depth reporting; Melanie Mensch, 13th in spot news.
"The Hearst contest, the so-called Pulitzers of college journalism, is a good barometer to measure how well our best students do against the best students in other programs in head-to-head competition," Starita said. "This year, in which Nebraska finished third out of 115 competing journalism programs, underscores once again just how good our top students really are."
Northwestern University took first place in the competition. Its Hearst program is directed by Roger Boye, a Nebraska journalism grad. Pennsylvania State University placed second; its dean is Doug Anderson, a native of Superior, Neb.
