Hallman joins Journal staff

The Washington Evening Journal recently added Andy Hallman to its news department. Hallman takes over as the community news reporter, meaning he will cover a wide variety of events and topics in the area.

?I?m very excited to be joining an experienced news team,? said Hallman. ?I?ve only worked here two weeks and I can already tell I?m in the presence of some real wordsmiths.?

    Hallman was born and raised in a town in northwest Iowa called Pocahontas. His first involvement in the newspaper business came when Hallman started as a paper carrier in fifth grade. In high school, Hallman began writing for his hometown paper, the Pocahontas Record-Democrat. It was there that Hallman worked under Brooks Taylor, the former news editor of The Washington Evening Journal.

    ?Brooks was a treat to work with,? said Hallman. ?He taught me a lot about writing. I?m glad that I had the opportunity to work with him during my first few years in the newspaper business.?

After graduating from Pocahontas Area High School in 2004, Hallman attended Iowa State University where he majored in political science with a minor in Spanish. Hallman says he learned a lot about writing to deadline in college.

?I remember taking a course in political science in which we had to write a short essay three times a week,? he said. ?That seemed like a daunting task when I started, especially considering the reading we were assigned on top of it, but by the end of the semester it was a piece of cake.?

    In the fall of 2008, Hallman began working as a reporter for a newspaper in Webster City, located 20 miles east of Fort Dodge. There, he performed many of the tasks that he is now being called upon to perform in Washington.

For the full story, see the Oct. 16 edition of The Washington Evening Journal