I hope that someone gets my,I hope that someone gets my...

Message in a bottle. Writing articles for the newspaper feels like throwing messages out to sea. I know people must read some of my stories but it's not until I receive a comment that I realize my messages wash up on some shore.

And journalists are like dogs in that they appreciate a pat on the head almost as much as a scolding - both gestures show that someone has paid attention to them.

I rather prefer a pat to a scolding but I have mixed feelings about entering my articles in newspaper contests. I mean, how can you recognize a qualitative thing like writing in a quantitative way?

The Record-Courier won awards in the 2007 Nevada Press Association Better Newspaper Contest for news and sports writing, advertising and page design, graphics, illustration and photography. I was told that I won a writing award but I didn't know which story I submitted was the winning entry.

During the awards ceremony in Reno on Saturday, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and journalism professor gave a speech on how news stories aren't about the people who write them - tell that to the hundreds of Nevada journalists who were sitting in their Sunday best waiting for their names to be called so they could get a plaque and a pat on the head.

It wasn't until a picture of Lenna Fagan flashed on the screen in the PowerPoint awards presentation that I found out that my article about her was recognized as best news feature story. The Nov. 1, 2006, story "A New Leg for Lenna," gave background about a Gardnerville Ranchos teenager who was born without a right leg and an upcoming fundraiser to purchase a $47,000 prosthetic leg with a microprocessor knee.

The article was about a cause the community rallied behind and the money for Lenna's leg was raised.

The instant I saw Lenna's photo on the screen during the awards dinner, I changed my opinion slightly about receiving recognition for an article about her. If someone got that message in the bottle, I'm OK with that.

-- Sharlene Irete is People editor at The R-C and may be reached at sirete@recordcourier.com.