COMM 209: Multi-media package, well organized profile

Here's some creative use of a newspaper's website ... a print, sound and still photo package in The Anchorage Daily News about a teenage contestant from nearby Wasilla, Alaska, in a preliminary event that's part of the buildup to next month's Iditarod sled dog race.

First there's a well-written story by the ADN's Melodie Wright. If you want to know how to write a profile, check this one out. It's a good model. Wright's lede:

WASILLA -- MacKenzie Davis turned 16 last month, but the idea of a driver's license scares her.

She has less of a problem taking 25-mile training runs by herself into the semi-wilderness on the back of a dog sled, or camping in subzero temperatures with only the dogs as companions. In her mind, the vagaries of the Alaska wilderness are more predictable than its roads.

See how it hooks you with a twist or an odd thought -- a 16-year-old who's more interested in dog racing than getting her license? Then the nut graf (actually a couple of them):

MacKenzie is one of 21 mushers signed up for this year's Junior Iditarod on Sunday. The race from Wasilla to Yentna Station Roadhouse follows the original Iditarod Trail and Yentna River for 60 miles, when mushers spend the night at the roadhouse before returning to Willow the next day.

Teenagers from 14 through 17 from all over Alaska will compete for scholarships offered through fifth place, with $5,000 going to the winner.

Remember how a lot of stories have an anecdotal lede (a story that leads into the story) and a "kicker," a twist or an odd thought that hooks you at the end? Well, this one is about opposite. It begins with a twist and ends with an anecdote. Here's the story:

Decked out in a custom embroidered coat her father gave her for Christmas one year, MacKenzie visits the kennel daily. Her dogs sit up at her approach, the afternoon quiet soon broken by inquisitive barks and the clink of chain on snowy ground as they pace in anticipation.

One by one, she harnesses them up. As the barks turn to howls, MacArthur, a white Alaska husky, starts chewing on the holding chain with excitement. MacKenzie's lead and smallest dog, Herschy, is hitched last.

"She's so smart," MacKenzie said. "She knows the trail and she knows where to go."

Now all in a row, the dogs go up on hind legs as they strain to hit the trail. MacKenzie pulls the snow hook. The barking is replaced with the hiss of runners on snow and her voice.

"There you go," she says as the team pulls out of sight. "Good job, guys."

Backwards. Completely backwards. But it works.

The ADN also has an audio slide show. Click on the link underneat the picture of MacKenzie putting booties on one of her dogs (yes, sled dogs wear booties ... it keeps the ice from building up in the hair between their paw pads). It will feature still pictures and audio of MacKenzie -- and the dogs.