On Sept. 19, 2021, former Saluki distance runner Emily Settle died after a lengthy battle with leukemia. For most, this was where the story began and ended — with a press release from SIU announcing her death. But I decided to dig deeper, finding the Emily Settle Fund set up by Emily and her family shortly before she died that would seek to help pay for lodging costs for young adults battling cancer just as she was.
The “#EmSettStrong” story won first place at the 2022 ICPA awards in the category of Sports Feature Story. Ironically, it had very little to do with the actual sport, instead focusing on Emily as a person through the eyes of everyone who was feeling her loss.
