I am delighted to announce that in June, Pharmacy Girl was named the National Federation of Press Women’s 2020 Second Place Winner for Children’s Fiction.
Earlier this year, Pharmacy Girl took the first place award for children’s fiction in the Delaware Press Association’s 2020 Communications Contest, a precursor to the national contest.
It is a particular honor to receive recognition from journalism organizations because so much of my research relied on newspaper accounts from 1918. The regular trek to the New Brunswick (NJ) Free Public Library to read selections from their microfilm collection of The Daily Home News was well worth the time and effort. (I’m happy to say this collection is now digitized.)
An ad for linens placed by my grandparents in the Sept. 30, 1918 Home News.
Reading photocopied articles, sometimes with a magnifying glass to see the very small print, was at times difficult, but always rewarding. One delightful find was a one inch blurb placed by my grandparents telling Highland Park (NJ) residents to leave towels and bed sheets at his store for the Red Cross linen drive. He would collect the donations and take them to the Red Cross Room in New Brunswick.
Another article touched me greatly. It was a report of the devastation at the Gillespie Munitions Works explosion in Sayreville. It was vivid and heart wrenching. It brought about a new appreciation for the writing skills of un-sung, by-lineless reporters of the day.