Lane DeGregory is a features writer who prefers writing about people in the shadows. She sweated with a mailman who was mowing strangers' lawns; hung out with a mother who was giving up custody of her adopted son; followed the guy who carried the "THE" flag in a rodeo.

Lane graduated from the University of Virginia, where she was editor-in-chief of the Cavalier Daily student newspaper. Later, she earned a master's degree in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Virginia.

For 10 years, she wrote news and feature stories for the Virginian-Pilot, based in Norfolk, Va. In 2000, Lane moved to Florida to write for the St. Petersburg Times. She's married to a drummer, Dan DeGregory, and they have two sons, Ryland, 11, and Tucker, 10.

Lane's stories have appeared in the Best Newspaper Writing editions of 2000, 2004 and 2006. She has been a speaker at the Nieman Narrative Conference at Harvard and has won more than a dozen national awards, including:

• 2008: Winner, American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for non-deadline writing.
• 2007: Winner, Ernie Pyle Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation for human interest writing.
• 2006: Finalist, American Society of Newspaper Editors Award