Judges roll the dice.

The Excellence in Feature Writing category had 117 entries, edging Excellence in News Reporting by a single entry. Our three judges chopped those down to seven finalists. If you agree or disagree with their choices, comment publicly below or privately here.

As one judge says about these finalists, “What I didn’t do is hold grammar against anyone, perhaps a mistake…”

• Gaming Your Brain — “Excellent opening. It builds to the point slowly but with so much detail and color that I’m glad to go along for the ride. Data against personal details is so fucking sexy sometimes, and the first three grafs of this story are an excellent example of this.”

• How an early ’90s Windows gaming classic was unearthed after years in limbo — “Sourced well. Took a minute to get to the point. Never really told me why I should care. 25 years on the shelf is a long time but why does that matter to me?”

• The Story Behind Fortress/Narrative and Gameplay Revealed/Storyboard Gallery — “Good topic for fans of the game, but where’s the relevance to gamers at large? Looks like the interviews were got, the numbers crunched, but the intro to the three parts doesn’t do much to tickle my pickle.”



• Video games and empathy: Should artists be psychologists when it comes to levelling playing fields? — “Great! Presents the topic off the cusp (even if by cliche) and then builds me slowly into the larger scope by providing specific points backed by specific examples and specific sources.”



• The Secret Developers of the Video Game Industry — “Intro clearly lays out road ahead. Solid sourcing. Small picture is quickly related to big picture.”



• Eve Online: how a virtual world went to the edge of apocalypse and back — “Great opening, even if it really went off subject to eventually bring us back. Very colorful with detail and good detail at that.”



• Cover Story: NES Creator Masayuki Uemura on the Birth of Nintendo’s First Console — “Recurring issue: Lots of telling with little showing. Give me flavor early to keep me into the story. STOP BURYING THE GOOD STUFF.”

Next week: Finalists for Excellence in News Reporting.

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