“Michigan Honors”
Tributes and storytelling using new and legacy media
A collage of photos collected throughout the Michigan Honors project / MLive
In 2014, I co-organized a year-long project honoring living World War II veterans in Michigan. The “Michigan Honors” project was threefold:
More than 3,600 then living veterans in Michigan and their families submitted information and I created a searchable online database that included their names, photos, and stories from the war. These lists were published in our print newspapers.
Reporters from newsrooms across the state wrote dozens of profiles on the veterans’ stories.
We also had several open houses at our newsrooms across the state, where the veterans came together, shared stories, met each other and had a profession portrait taken. This concluded in an event at the Michigan State Capitol with more than 100 veterans who gathered together.
“Michigan Honors” was a moving project that showed how technology and in person engagement could come together to honor the sacrifices of a generation.