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Photo by James Brosher

Michael Sanserino won the Keating Competition for the second year in a row.

School of Journalism senior and IDS managing editor Michael Sanserino won first place Saturday in the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation’s Thomas Keating Feature Writing Program, the second time he’s won the contest and the first time for a repeat winner in the contest’s 22-year history.

A finalist for three years and the 2007 winner, Sanserino received $2,500 in prize money.

Thirty-three Indiana college journalists applied for the contest, which honors Tom Keating, a popular former Indianapolis Star columnist and Lilly Endowment executive who died in 1985 at the age of 45.

Ten finalists who competed last weekend wrote deadline feature stories as part of the contest, researching and interviewing in downtown Indianapolis and then writing their stories in the newsroom at the Indianapolis Star. They also attended the foundation’s annual dinner at the Skyline Club in Downtown Indianapolis, where the organizers announced the winners.

Other IU finalists were Chip Cutter, third place, who won $750 and also won the same spot last year; Natalie Avon; C.J. Lotz; Kristi Oloffson; and Allie Townsend.

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