New Era staff writer Janet Kelley has won the 2007 Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award,  given annually to one reporter in the country for excellence in writing.

Kelley received the award for her in-depth story about the October shooting of 10 Amish girls in a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Bart Township.

The story, "Horror and Heroism,"  was part of a three-part series called "Lost Angels" that ran in the New Era in December.

Kelley will receive a plaque and a $1,500 prize, presented on behalf of the Pulliam family, former owners of the Indianapolis Star.

The award, established in 1960, is one of the nation's most prestigious, given solely for excellence in writing. Former winners include authors Theodore White and William Shirer.

In recent years, reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the Hartford Courant, the Kansas City Star and The Palm Beach Post have won it. Three former winners later won Pulitzer Prizes.

In selecting Kelley's story, one Pulliam judge wrote that her "unflinching reconstruction of the tragic shooting ... is an example of community journalism at its finest."

Another judge said that the story "captivates the reader from start to finish."

It also praised Kelley for her  "meticulous research, eye for detail, judicious quote selection and compelling narrative."

The story also has received praise from members of the Amish community and state and local law enforcement officials.

"We're deeply honored," said Ernest Schreiber, New Era editor. "No Lancaster journalist has ever before received recognition of this magnitude.

"Those of us who work with Janet are especially happy for her. We saw her going back again and again to talk to the troopers who were in the school that day.

"She was determined to write a story that had every detail precisely right and yet respected the privacy of the families who suffered."

The Pulliam award is presented by the journalism department of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

Kelley will travel to the Indiana college in April to accept the award and deliver a speech, "Crisis Reporting and the Art of Persuasion," as part of the journalism department's Professional-in-Residence series.

A graduate of Penn State University, Kelley began her career in 1976, as a general assignment reporter for the former Pennsylvania Mirror in State College.

In 1979, she came to the New Era. For the past 28 years, she has covered  crime and court news for the 41,365-circulation paper.

In the past, she has won numerous awards from the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors for her stories on crime and the law.

A Harrisburg native who now lives in Lancaster, she is the mother of one daughter, a freshman at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

• To read Kelley's winning piece, "Horror and Heroism," from Day 2 of the "Lost Angels" series, click this link.
• To listen to Kelley's podcast interview with New Era online journalist Corey Clayton about the writing of the piece, click this link.
• To see the entire "Lost Angels" series, with podcasts and multimedia slideshows, visit the series Web site at LostAngelsSeries.com.
  
• To purchase a booklet edition of the series, with full-color art and photography, visit http://shop.lancasteronline.com. All proceeds from sale of the booklet go to the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee for the benefit of the injured children and their families.