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Proud Eastern Shore journalist Connie Connolly continues to receive awards for her work, despite being “semi-retired.”
A freelance writer and Senior Correspondent with the Caroline Review, she has most recently won three first-place and two second-place awards at the Delaware Press Association’s annual awards banquet, which was held on Thursday, May 8, at Ed Oliver Golf Club in Wilmington, Delaware. Connolly also won first prize in the Feature Story: Non-Profile category and second prize in the Feature Story: Profile category in the Caroline Review’s division at the Maryland Delaware D.C. Press Association conference in Annapolis on May 9.
Over her writing career, Connolly has garnered 46 total awards and 21 first-place awards. Rather than having an award that particularly stands out to her, she said that she is proud of certain types of stories, like “profiles of ordinary folks who deserve to have their stories told and the investigative pieces that have to do with the Bay.” She specifically mentioned works on Rachel Fazenbaker, a Chesapeake Bay waterwoman, and “the Vibrio issue that I wrote [about] for the Caroline Review that got a lot of people thinking about their safety and the water, especially during the summer months.”
Telling the stories of the Eastern Shore is a passion for Connolly, who grew up in Queen Annes County, “I feel like I'm standing on the shoulders of people far, far more talented than I am, Sophie Kerr, Gilbert Byron, John Barth, those are the luminaries of Eastern Shore that were born here and raised here.”
She aims to capture the soul of the Shore’s people through her writing. “I feel like we here on the Eastern Shore know how to tell stories. I’ve known old-timers who could spin a yarn like nobody’s business and strike that beautiful iambic pentameter,” Connolly said, “So not only to tell a story, but to tell it with the rhythm of this area… if I can even begin to capture some of that spirit of who we are, it’s a joy.” A former high school journalism teacher, she shared her expertise and passion with students for over a decade. Her students have gone on to win a collective 34 writing awards.
Connolly shared that the opportunity to write for the Caroline Review came at just the right time in her life, and she has enjoyed closing the gaps in coverage for Caroline County news. “I so appreciate Debbie Bowden’s vision to augment Caroline Review magazine with an online news service when she became the new publisher a year ago,” Connolly said. “Debbie saw the need to fill a news void in Caroline County, and these awards are directly related to her commitment to provide news and features.” She went on to say, “It’s really been a joy to be part of a team Debbie has assembled.”
“I just thank God for putting me where I am, for landing me back into journalism,” Connolly said, “I feel God gave me a gift, and I want to use it here.”
As far as her future, Connolly said, “if God wants me to keep doing journalism forever, I’ll keep doing it until I drop.” For right now, though, she’s “just having fun.” “There are so many interesting people in this county and so much going on.”
