By JESSICA VANDER VELDE, St. Petersburg Times

What makes a winning college admissions essay? Poynter Institute faculty member Kelly McBride knows.

She coaches students at Poynter and has talked to admissions officers and studied up on the topic.

The stakes are high, she says. A great essay can pave the way for admission, even if a student's grades and SAT score aren't the best.

Before the camera rolls and Evelyn Madonia extols the wonders of her Red Rose Inn, she wants makeup. Lots of makeup.
"Are you ready for sparkles?" the makeup artist kneeling in front of her asks.
"Always."
Madonia is the face of the Red Rose Inn, a woman who proves that elbow-length gloves can be worn regularly in the 21st century.

Capt. Richard Phillips may have been brave when Somali pirates hijacked the ship he was navigating through the Indian Ocean. But he did not offer himself as a hostage to save his crew.
That story, widely disseminated by media and celebrated on social-networking sites, isn't true, said the ship's chief engineer, Michael Perry, who lives in Riverview, Fla.