Taunton Resident Maureen Boyle Earns Top Journalism Award

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Maureen Boyle after being presented with the Feature Specialty Reporting Award

EASTON, MA (09/14/2011)(readMedia)-- Taunton resident and Assistant Professor of Communication at Stonehill College Maureen Boyle, who also serves as the Journalism Program Director at the College, received first place honors in the 23rd Annual Excellence-in-Features Writing Competition by the Society for Features Journalism. Boyle's reporting on the 2009 racially-charged killing spree by Keith Luke in Brockton took top honors in the Feature Specialty Reporting category.

Boyle was presented with the award at the group's annual conference in Tucson, Arizona last month. The story, which ran in The Enterprise of Brockton in April of 2010, recounted the day of the killings, the aftermath of the event, and the recovery of one woman who survived the attack.

The story had also taken first place honors earlier this year in the New England Newspaper & Press Association at its 2010 New England Better Newspaper Contest.

On January 21, 2009, Luke walked into a Brockton apartment and opened fire, raping and critically wounding one woman, killing another woman who tried to intervene and fatally shooting a 72-year-old man walking on the street. All three victims were of Cape Verdean descent.

Boyle has won numerous awards throughout her more than 25 years of daily news reporting experience in New England. She is a three-time Journalist of the Year honoree from the New England Press Association.

She is a two-time winner of the Community Reporter Award for excellence in local reporting by the New England Society of Newspaper Editors and has received a number of national and regional writing awards for public service for her in depth reporting on heroin addiction, domestic violence, criminal justice and the code of silence on city streets.

Boyle became a full-time faculty member at Stonehill in the Fall of 2010, joining the Communication Department. Her courses include News Writing and Reporting, Advanced News Writing and Reporting, and a Journalism Law and Ethics Practicum.

About the Society for Features Journalism

Formerly the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, the Society for Features Journalism promotes the craft of writing and innovation in lifestyle, arts and entertainment journalism.