On October 24, 2012, Lane Degregory, a Pulitzer Prize winner, gave a presentation at the Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus. Her presentation provided an in-depth look at her journalism career as well as tips on how to find an interesting story. Her high profile stories include interviews with the queen of Spain, President Reagan and President Bush and members of the Trevon Martin case.

  Her first full time job was at Virginia Pilot. She advised “The best way to get a job in journalism is to look for internships.”

  She began her presentation by asking her audience not to be afraid of asking her questions, and worrying about interrupting her speech. She answered every question with a smile and explained that being a journalist is a very flexible job. Therefore, the questions just poured from the audience, and in little to no time the audience learned that in additon to writing a Pulitzer Prize story, she has also rode in a garbage truck, in order to fulfill every gap in one of her stories.

  Her first tip for becoming an amazing journalist is to “talk to strangers.” Her experience with this tip was finding a story about Mark Sheppard. Sheppard is a bus guide and teaches those in need how to ride the Hartline.

  Another tip is “Playing Hookie,” which means listening to stories everywhere. She found this tip useful when going to the gas station one day and bumping into Michael Terbay. Michael told Lane that today was the best day of his life because after 42 years, he would finally meet hiohis estranged daughter.

  Lane was very inspired and interested by this story and asked him if she could tag along with him to the airport to capture his precious moment of meeting his baby girl for the first time.

  With this example and a wonderful story, she advised that not only can one grab stories randomly while doing daily activities, but one can also grab stories while reading bulletin boards and newspapers or just letting those stories come with observations.

  Her next tip was to make some “freaky friends” because they are always interesting,. She also advised to just have a variety of friends, as everyone always has a story.

  Furthermore, she suggests toignore all the important people and celebrates the losers; they are more interesting than the already often highlighted celebrities.

  Volunteering is also important in becoming a journalist because there are a lot of healthy stories that come from every activity. Her last tip was to hang out at bars; that is where the stories flow continuously.

  For more information about Lane visit: www.lanedegregory.com