This could be subheded, “Always a Sucker for Cute Fuzzy Animals.”

Earlier today, Andy Carvin of NPR posted a tweet about NPR’s Chengdu Diary, a blog by the reporting team sent to China that will accompany a series airing May 19-23 on “All Things Considered.”

Chengdu Diary logo

Blogs like this allow visitors to get a feel for what it’s like to go to a place with a project and a purpose. It’s not just about the journalism, it’s about the crafting of stories, and a window into other lives and places.

And they give people an excuse to post video of cute, fuzzy, squawking animals.

For media organizations doing big projects, investigative reports or covering multi-day events, blogs are an ideal way to expose the process of newsgathering — and to bring something unique and human to a website.

Ricochet’s hed-to-hed competition went neck and neck, with a near photo-finish between two entrants. In the end, the headlines by Jenny Cromie took the tape.

Contest judge Matthew Crowley had some funny, instructive advice in his assessment:

All of Jenny’s were complete and accurate and summarized their stories.

The Marriott headline used all of those p’s to sonic use (not to be confused with Sonic Youth, which is a band). I realize Inga Hensen’s head for this is almost the same, but Jenny’s referenced pay-per-view, which I think is a key detail….

I liked the following in the footsteps one for the kite skier. What’s also important is that Jenny’s head uses “great-grandfather” and not the name. This is important because, for the general reader, “Hurley” probably isn’t an instant “I-know-who-he-is” name….

And Jenny’s marathon head mentions the race and the song and dance, putting key elements together. I don’t think you could leave the race out, although I did like Inga’s reference to awareness-raising.

Crowley also gave honorable mentions “for style and snap” to individual entries by Lizz Westman (“Marriott Hotels May Say ‘Kiss Off’ To Adult Movies”) and Anna Curtis (“Arctic Kite-Skier Prepares To Walk South Until She Gloats”).

Thanks to everyone who entered. And Jenny, your Threadless gift certificate will be arriving in your emailbox shortly.