Gleitz wins Keating competition

Isaac Gleitz, a senior at Franklin College, won first place in the 2022 Thomas R. Keating Writing Challenge. With the honor came a $3,000 prize.

Gleitz was one of 10 student journalists in the 36th annual competition that consisted of each contestant having five hours to find a story subject in a “mile square” of downtown Indianapolis, conduct an interview and file a creative, compelling and well-written story.

That is what the late Keating, for whom the contest is named, did five days a week for 14 years at The Indianapolis Star; he wrote about ordinary people with stories.

Gleitz, who is from Corydon, wrote about a construction worker who is recovering from drug addiction.

Besides serving as an executive editor of The Franklin, Franklin College’s newspaper, Gleitz is president of the college’s Earth Club and a member of the college band.

Maya Wilkins, a senior at Ball State University, placed second and received $1,750 for her story about a local shoe store.

Nadia Scharf, a junior at Indiana University, was third and received $1,250. Her story was about holiday lights being installed at the Monument Circle in Indianapolis.

Tyler Fenwick, a 2017 finalist in the Keating competition and graduate of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, was the guest speaker for the awards banquet. Fenwick is now a reporter for The Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper.