Allison Copenbarger Vance
Champaign, IL
I am a writer living in Champaign, Ill. My work has been published by SB Nation Longform, Coastal Living, Indianapolis Monthly, Milwaukee magazine, Illinois Alumni Magazine and St. Louis Magazine.
I was recently named a finalist for the 2015 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists for my story "Selfless Portrait." That story was also #5 in Indianapolis Monthly's "Top 10 Features of 2014," named by BuzzFeed as one of their "9 Favorite Feature Stories This Week" and was featured as a "Staff Pick" on Longform.org.
My story "The Proposal" was featured on Longreads.com and inspired "What the Doctor Ordered," an episode of ABC's 20/20 in which I appeared on-camera as a source.
For my day job, I work as a speechwriter and storyteller at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Specialties: Storytelling, long-form (longform, long form), longreads, magazine features, front-of-book pieces, narrative creative nonfiction writing, intimate profiles, marketing writing, fact-checking, copyediting, proofreading, editing copy, researching, speechwriting (writing speeches), strategic communications, social media strategy.
FEATURES
Back Home Again in Indiana: A.J. Foyt Returns to the 500