Jingle Davis, retired city editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Julie is smart, talented, hard-working and inventive. Assigned to find stories on Katrina evacuees who had settled in Atlanta, Julie found an off-trail story that was repeated by the New York Times after it ran in the AJC. It featured a former New Orleans resident who opened a Snow Ball stand in downtown Atlanta that gave NOLA evacuees a refreshing taste of home.

She dug out a story (missed by one of our metro bureaus) on a chemical reprocessing plant that caused problems for its surrounding neighborhood when noxious chemicals were spilled by delivery trucks bringing wastes to the plant. The state environmental agency did cursory testing, based on residents' complaints, and said no problem existed, but Julie went to the site, sniffed out the odors, interviewed residents, followed up with doctors, emergency rooms and clinics, and established that the spill caused considerably more problems than either the plant or the environmental agency had admitted. Julie worked nights and weekends on a series of stories about the incident; because of her efforts, the plant was fined and forced to revise its method of handling incoming chemicals.

Our managing editor at the time said he'd hire her in a heartbeat, even before she finished journalism school.

Howard Libit, assistant managing editor for breaking news at The Baltimore Sun

Julie is a terrific young reporter who did excellent work last summer on the Baltimore Sun's city desk.

From the start, Julie showed herself ready to tackle any assignment. On her second day, she covered the funeral of one of eight victims of a deadly rowhouse fire. Her work that day showed us that she was up for anything – daily assignments, quick-hit features and longer-term enterprise.

Two areas where Julie stood out were her ability to spot story ideas and her willingness to jump in on anything. Julie’s story on the painted ladies of Charles Village – houses painted in funky colors throughout an area of North Baltimore – was a terrific 1A centerpiece. It was the kind of thing all of us see every day, but often never think to ask the questions to make it a story.

Allison Nichols, managing editor for The Daily Tar Heel

Julie Turkewitz is one of the best feature writers I've worked with, so I was disappointed when she switched to photography until she revealed an outstanding talent in that as well. Julie also works on our online desk posting the paper at night. We joke that with all her varied skills, she can singlehandedly produce a newspaper .

Erin Zureick, editor-in-chief for The Daily Tar Heel

Her writing ability is almost without peer. What impressed me most about Julie was the fact that she started working as a photographer for the paper this year. From the beginning, she was outstanding. If you sent Julie on an assignment, you knew the product would be top-notch. I do not believe there is any college journalist in this country who can write and produce photos like Julie can.

Source | The Daily Tar Heel
The worn army-issue boots sit empty next to the front door in the Beard home. It's been two years since 22-year-old Army Spc. Bradley Beard was killed when an explosive detonated near his vehicle in Iraq. But inside the Beard's sprawling Chapel Hill house, the pain has not subsided.

Source | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More than 200 people in south Fulton and Fayette counties say they have been made sick by a noxious odor coming from an industrial waste facility, prompting a state and federal investigation and a lawsuit.

Source | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In North Georgia, out past signs for Bessie Mae's Country Cottage and an abandoned gas station where a rusty sign advertises gasoline at $1.39 a gallon, the boys of Cabin 42 are laying down beats to their newest rap.

Source | The Baltimore Sun
Nine years ago, a few muddy brown homes in North Baltimore threw off their dreary facades and something magical happened: They got some color.