Lane DeGregory is a features writer who prefers writing about people in the shadows. She sweated with a mailman who was mowing strangers' lawns; hung out with a mother who was giving up custody of her adopted son; followed the guy who carries the "THE" flag in a rodeo.

Lane graduated from the University of Virginia, where she was editor-in-chief of the Cavalier Daily student newspaper. Later, she earned a master's degree in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Virginia.

For 10 years, she wrote news and feature stories for the Virginian-Pilot, based in Norfolk, Va. In 2000, Lane moved to Florida to write for the St. Petersburg Times. She's married to a drummer, Dan DeGregory, and they have two sons, Ryland, 12, and Tucker, 11.

Lane's stories have appeared in the Best Newspaper Writing editions of 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008. She has been a speaker at the Nieman Narrative Conference at Harvard and has won more than a dozen national awards, including the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.

Other awards include:

2009: National Headliner Award for feature writing

2008: Winner, American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for non-deadline writing.

2007: Winner, Ernie Pyle Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation for human interest writing.

2006: Finalist, American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for non-deadline writing.

Phone: (727) 893-8825

E-mail: degregory@sptimes.com