News-Review’s Angela Colangelo wins big at writers conference
Angela Colangelo, Times Review’s digital editor, won first and third places in the New York State Outdoor Writers Association Excellence in Craft contest at their spring conference this past weekend in Niagara Falls.
Ms. Colangelo entered two stories; Making the bait: How Larry Welcome spun a career out of wood, her profile of Cutchogue fishing plug maker Larry Welcome and Starry Nights: Custer Institute and Observatory gives science aficionados a home on the North Fork, her feature on Custer Observatory, both published in the Northforker last year. The stories won in the magazine feature category.
The prize for first place for writers was a hand-carved duck decoy created by award-winning carver Bill Suitor of Youngstown, N.Y. Photographers who won first place were awarded custom artworks by club president Deb Brosen.
“Third place was for last year’s article on Custer, and first place was for my profile on Larry Welcome. That felt pretty good, because I only put in [those] two entries. I won a check and a hand-carved duck decoy of a canvasback,” said Ms. Colangelo. “It was exciting that it was a canvasback, because I have a special connection with them, and the man who has hand-carved their trophies for many decades is retiring. So these were his last round, and I got one.”
Anyone who is paid to write about the outdoors is eligible to apply for membership in the New York State Outdoor Writers Association. Ms. Colangelo joined about two years ago at the prompting of a friend.
“Chris Paparo, a well-known guy around here, he does FishGuyPhotos, he approached me two years ago about joining the club. And I was kind of like, ‘yeah, sure sounds good’,” said Ms. Colangelo. “But [eventually] I decided to join. Then a new president came in, and she was sort of getting her own footing in the club. She’s been asking for feedback. I was like, ‘Well, one thing was that I joined the club, but I don’t really know how to get involved.’” Among the activities they discussed was the spring conference and the Excellence in Craft contest.
Winning with the article about Mr. Welcome was something of a full circle moment for Ms. Colangelo. She had been reviewing Northforker posts on Instagram as a potential outlet to pitch the story when she found an ad for a job. She sent her resume and landed the gig she has at the paper now, and still got to write the story for the magazine.
“I know the story was really well-received throughout the community, and Larry got a lot of attention for it. He even wound up on TV. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy,” said Ms. Colangelo. “That started as an idea, and you never know where your idea is going to take you. So I got an award from my idea, and a full-time job, and was able to write that story. For me, it was just like all kinds of validation, and like you’re doing what you should be doing, keep going in this direction.”
