Cover concept:
The process of creating today's front-page picture began a week ago when Free Press chief photographer J. Kyle Keener sketched out several ideas for a photo illustration to mark the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He and newspaper editors decided on the candle on today's front page. Keener printed tiny copies of photos of Ground Zero, the Pentagon, the Pennsylvania field where Flight 93 crashed, two dozen New York City firefighters and Michigan's 16 victims. He glued the photos to a 13-inch candle. Wax from a second candle was dripped atop the memorial one. The candle was lit and then photographed atop rubble and cement dust in the Free Press studio.

The paper:
We used every daily section of the paper to highlight an aspect of issues related to 9/11. We used page 3A to help guide readers through those topics.

Back page:
This page was originally considered as a page one option. The intention was to invoke a moment of silence feel by reprinting all the victims' names (no small feat as it turns out, once you start digging into whose list is most current, etc.), focusing all the calamity and media frenzy back onto what the day should really be about -- the victims. It would have been a little bit of a statement. Ultimately, we decided to run it as a tribute page on the back of the A-section after selecting the other page for the cover.