Judges' Comments
	"The well-conceived package covered all aspects of this national story through a well-written overview and tightly focused, compact sidebars."
	UGA fan's hunt for camera bag turns world's busiest airport into Haltfield

One morning a few weeks after the attacks in New York and Washington, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newsroom was working a story about a man who breached security at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport.

In normal times, the incident probably would have generated a brief.

The times were far from normal. American airports had become a key front on the nation’s war on terrorism.

Reporters and photographers rushed to the scene. Unfortunately, the airport terminal -- also the world’s largest -- is difficult to navigate on good days. But on this day, it seemed impossible. Airport officials had evacuated the place and locked the doors. The state patrol sealed road access. Thousands of passengers had been forced out to the curb to wait.

It was chaos. Yet, the Journal-Constitution reporters and photographers made their way to the people on the ground to capture this event as it rippled across the country.

Meanwhile, frustrated passengers were sending e-mails to the paper with their comments and circumstances, information that helped shape the reporting. (Indeed, the comments were posted on ajc.com and a collection of their quotes and observations were used in the print editions.)

As deadline approached a lot was known about the scope of the mess at Hartsfield. Yet, the main player -- a man who went down the up escalator -- was still elusive. The staff worked law enforcement sources until they learned that an arrest had been made.

They found the man’s wife and mother and interviewed them both. Michael Shane Lasseter, a University of Georgia fan on the way to a football game, had discovered a camera missing as he was about to board a plane.

This obviously rash and foolish act caused misery to thousands and cost some very unhappy airlines millions of dollars. Because it was at its core a story about how such a stupid act in extraordinarily sensitive times created such a stir, a light writing touch was called for.

Writers brought the right tone to the piece and provided readers with an elegant read the next morning.

The lead was written by Jane O. Hansen and Maurice Tamman. Sidebars were contributed by Tamman, Ron Martz, Gary Hendricks, Nancy Fonti, Bill Torpy, Jill Vejnoska and David Goldberg.

Charlotte B. Teagle’s front-page photo captured the moment superbly. Chuck Blevins’ informational graphic put a frustrating day in perspective for readers who survived the experience, and others who only read about it.