Finalists announced for Carmage Walls Commentary Award

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In alphabetical order, the finalists in this year's Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition are:

Under 50,000 circulation:

  • David Bloom, managing editor, The Baytown Sun, Baytown, Texas. Faced with a school board and superintendent closing ranks over controversial personnel moves and overspending coupled with staff morale at rock bottom, The Baytown Sun used its role as community voice to play a major part in the removal of the superintendent of its 23,000-student district.  In the end, the head of the district was removed and four of the board members announced they would not be seeking re-election. Read his editorials:
  • Randy Essex, editor, Glenwood Springs Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colo.  Immigrants are critical to the economy in Garfield County and, in 2014, a Colorado law took effect that enabled undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses.  When one Republican lawmaker in the state sought to block the release of money raised by the extra fees on licenses, the newspaper called him on it.  Essex says – that with new leadership at the paper – these editorials held accountable a rural lawmaker who was unaccustomed to such scrutiny, and helped keep pressure on lawmakers for a solution. Read this editorial: 

Over 50,000 circulation:

  • Sharon Grigsby, editorial writer, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas. The Dallas Independent School District has been in turmoil for decades.  The Dallas Morning News editorial board's intent has been to cut through the politics and back-biting to explain what is really going on in a district that needs some hard reforms.  Grigsby's success has come from calling out disruptive behavior when necessary, but also championing success stories. Read some of her editorials:
  • Charles Rowe, editorial page editor, and Elsa McDowell, editorial writer, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C. It started with one small news item: South Carolina has the second highest rate of men killing women.  The Post and Courier probed the issue through a months-long, in-depth investigation and compelling interviews with dozens of victims of domestic violence across the state.  The paper's editorial stance drove home the fact that a state where more than 300 women in the last decade have been killed by their husbands and boyfriends, demands immediate and comprehensive action.  The newspaper's work was recognized by the Pulitzer Prize committee that awarded it the prestigious Public Service Award. Read some of editorials that the paper published:

The awards (first- and second-place honors in each circulation category) will be presented during an awards breakfast on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the News Industry Summit.  The winners also will be posted by mid-morning on the SNPA website.

Several additional Honorable Mentions also will be announced Oct. 7.

The prize is named for the late Benjamin Carmage Walls whose newspaper career spanned seven decades.  Walls primarily owned community newspapers and advocated strong, courageous and positive editorial page leadership.

Awards in SNPA's Print Quality Contest and Photo Contest, as well as the Frank W. Mayborn Leadership Award also will be presented at the breakfast.

Carmage Walls Commentary Prize
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