Brian Harvey
HEADLINE WRITING
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Brian Harvey has played the role of bridesmaid in headline contests twice during the past three years, losing first place to fellow Grand Junction Daily Sentinel copy editors. Now it's his turn to win as Cox's Community Division best in the demanding discipline of headline writing.

Harvey's newspaper career has been an on-again, off-again experience.

Born and raised in East Texas, he attended Stephen F. Austin University and landed his first newspaper job at the Lufkin News.

At Lufkin, he learned a lot from Cox Senior Editor Joe Murray, Harvey said. The young newcomer to journalism ran the gamut from writing and editing sports; covering city hall; and working on the city desk.

It was marriage that brought Harvey to western Colorado and a short stint selling ads for a weekly. During the 1980s and early '90s, he was in the job-printing business.

"One day when I had about twenty-five more working years, I stood beside a printing press and asked myself, 'Do I really want to watch another zillion or so pieces of paper go through one of these things before I retire?' " he recalled. "The answer was 'No.' "

He returned to college, attending Mesa State for three semesters and working as a stringer for the Daily Sentinel. He joined the news desk in 1995.

"I guess my midlife crisis manifested itself in the form of a desire to return to the line of work I always loved, but had gotten away from," Harvey said.