Exceptional narrative with great sourcing and detail. Reader engagement was hopefully achieved. Reporter gathered detail from institutional sources, and best of all from both community officials and individuals effectively involved.

Sarah took what could have been a ponderous policy story -- the threatened cutoff of funding to fight the opioid epidemic in rural areas -- and hooks the reader with a dramatic anecdote. I was immediately invested in Joni's story and had to see how it turned out. It also put a name (and a face, even if I had to imagine it) to the broader policy debate that the story deals with, propelling the reader through the rest of the piece.