- April 18, 2024
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The judges selected him because they said his writing is “lyrical.” When one of the audience members and board members of the Local Media Association, Gloria Fletcher, heard his acceptance speech, she said: “That was lyrical, too.”
Brian McMillan, managing editor of the Palm Coast Observer and Ormond Beach Observer, accepted his plaque Sept. 13, in Atlanta, for being named weekly newspaper Journalist of the Year by the national Local Media Association.
The organization gathered for its annual publishers’ meeting, where it presents the group’s lifetime achievement award and top prizes to journalists and advertising executives from among its more than 2,000 member media companies from the United States and Canada.
McMillan drew a chuckle from his luncheon audience of more than 100 when he opened his acceptance speech by saying he asked his wife what he should say in his speech. “She dictated the following,” McMillan said: “'I owe it all to my amazing wife. She would love to be here, but she’s at home slaving away and taking care of the children.'”
McMillan, 32, relayed to the audience of mostly publishers and advertising executives how he places a priority on keen, detailed story telling in the Palm Coast Observer.
“If I could be king of journalism,” McMillan said, “I would decree that every writer must read a book a week. In an industry that sometimes suffers from an emphasis on quantity over quality, reading good novels, plays, columns, news articles — whatever interests us — can help us simply slow down and write a memorable phrase or a clever ending to a paragraph."
McMillan told how he read an anecdote about retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the book, “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court," by Jeffrey Toobin. It came to mind when he reported and wrote a story on the recent retirement of Flagler Circuit Court Judge Kim C. Hammond.
Prying for details about the judge, McMillan told how he eventually pried out of Flagler Clerk of Courts Gail Wadsworth that Hammond had a predilection for eating sweets. She tried to help the judge curb his sweet tooth by giving him a small freezer to keep fresh fruits and vegetables.
With that, McMillan told the audience, he was able to craft the following lead on the story about the judge’s retirement: “Upon his retirement, Kim C. Hammond will leave behind a courthouse named in his honor and a legacy of fairness and humility. And he’ll throw in the freezer.”
McMillan closed his speech, saying, “At the Palm Coast Observer, we like to think that local newspapers not only describe and report on the community, they help to build the community.”
