Each week this past football season, Multimedia Producer John Clanton hunted for a story on Friday night that didn't necessarily involve the game.
Instead, he put the spotlight on some of the other people who contributed to make the night a memorable one.
The result was "Sidelines," his video series chronicling a Friday night through the eyes of a mascot, a parent, the students who held the flags in pregame ceremonies and others.
The series won a national award on Monday, being named a top 10 multimedia project by the Associated Press Sports Editors. Competitors in the contest included other newspapers from across the country with 500,000-2 million unique visitors. Tulsaworld.com averages 1.8 million unique visitors.
"There's a lot of people who work really hard who don't wear a jersey and play football," Clanton said. "This series gave them a voice and made them the star on that Friday night."
Back in high school, Clanton was part of the Sapulpa High School band and so his Friday nights weren't all about football. When he picked a project for football season, he decided to focus on the stories outside of the game. Among the stories he told were the Owasso mascot and the Jenks moms who sew for the color guard.
He did find one story on the field he couldn't ignore. He chronicled Fort Gibson High School's first win in five years against Hilldale. The victory returned "The Rock" trophy to Fort Gibson. The seniors had never beaten Hilldale and the win was an emotional one.
Some of Clanton's favorite moments included seeing parents dedicated to their children's passions.
"I like seeing parents supporting their kids," he said. "You could tell they cared. So much of that is behind the scenes and we don't put a focus on it when newspapers cover a Friday night in the fall."
Other papers named to the top 10 list include the Athens Banner Herald, Buffalo News, Des Moines Register, Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard, Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press, Knoxville News Sentinel and Louisville Courier-Journal.
Watch the other episodes in the series at
www.tulsaworld.com/sidelines.
Clanton was also behind the Everyday People series, where he posted a portrait each day in 2012 of someone new. It was an incredible amount of work, every day, and tells a real personal profile of the city. Check it out at
www.tulsaworld.com/everydaypeople.
