Brad Buchholz
FEATURE WRITING
Austin American-Statesman

There's a discerning audience in Austin, home of the state university and capitol, and so far Austin American-Statesman editors have consistently turned up gifted writers who can appeal to the demanding readership. The latest of those writing standouts is Brad Buchholz.

In a slice of life from his own neighborhood, he proved there's a story behind every mailbox in "Last Light on the Street of Seven Widows."

One of his remedial writing students at Austin Community College led Buchholz to a remarkable story about Rwandans in "Gilbert's Story: How love bridged war, separation and uncertainty for two refugees in Austin."

And the writer drew on his interests in music and sports for the feature "Road to Wisconsin: Driving in the direction of a sister's love, Comiskey Park and Stevie Ray Vaughan in the summer of 1990." There was a thread to all three of his features that won in the Best of Cox.

"John Lennon said life is something that happens while you're making other plans," Buchholz recalled. "All three of these stories qualify. I was living a real life, doing something else, when the seeds of all these things occurred."

Buchholz is the fourth American-Statesman writer in the last four years to win Best of Cox feature writing.

A native of Los Angeles, he graduated from the University of Texas in 1978 and for the next six years wrote sports for the American-Statesman.

From 1984 to 1999, he taught, traveled and freelanced, including for Sports Illustrated. He rejoined the American-Statesman as a feature writer in 1999. "I value those 15 years so much because I think my life outside of daily newspaper journalism helped me become a better writer," he said.