SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - They are saying now that it was all a big miscommunication; one that left a Murray girl very upset. After a phone call Monday morning, Georgia Clyde thought she won a Deseret Morning News essay contest. Then she was told because she's not Mormon, that her essay wouldn't be published.
The 7th grader did in fact enter an essay into Deseret Morning News' "Christmas I Remember Best" essay contest. The person who called the family earlier this week was the editor of LDS Church News, a supplement to the church-owned daily paper, which, we're told, has nothing to do with the Deseret Morning News. That was the beginning of the mix up.
As Georgia reads an excerpt from her essay “My mom had been a single mother of two for just about six years and a little over two years ago the most amazing thing happened to our family...” titled “My Miracle Christmas,” she says she remembers how blown away she was when she found out the essay was being considered for publication but wouldn't make the wire because she wasn't Mormon. Clyde says, “I felt disappointed and sad and angry and just all at the same time I just couldn't believe it.”
Her mother, Michelle, recalls what was said to her on the phone, “She said, 'Are you Mormon?', and I said, 'No', and she said then we can't use your daughter's story. This is for Mormon families only.” Clyde says, “I mean, if they chose 'No', I would have been okay with it, but for that reason I was shocked.”
This family says they feel they've been discriminated against because of their religion, and from a paper that is delivered to thousands, Mormon or otherwise. The girl’s mother says, “If it's a newspaper that goes out to everybody, that newspaper is sold statewide...anybody can buy it, Mormon or not Mormon, There shouldn't be a reason why any essay couldn't be printed.”
The editor explains that her decision to not use the girl's essay was an editorial judgment call. Gerry Avant says, “I was looking for something by LDS because by tradition our contributors have been LDS.” She apologizes for the miscommunication and goes on to say, “I have spent 35 years of trying to portray people in the best light the best possible way and certainly would not have gone intentionally to cause offense.”
You can find a copy of the LDS Church News inside the Deseret Morning News on Saturdays.
