UPDATE, June 12: Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. has named Jeff Gerritt editor of the Sharon Herald and New Castle News in western Pennsylvania.
He had already won two national awards for editorial writing, but Jeffrey Gerritt, editor of the Palestine Herald-Press in East Texas, turned one of journalism's finest hat tricks Monday by winning the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing "for editorials that exposed how pre-trial inmates died horrific deaths in a small Texas county jail—reflecting a rising trend across the state—and courageously took on the local sheriff and judicial establishment, which tried to cover up these needless tragedies," the judges said.
Earlier in the day, Gerritt won the News Leaders Association’s Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership in small markets, and that was on top of this year’s National Headliner Award for editorial writing.
Gerritt's entries included commentary on the paper’s “Death Without Conviction” series that examined deaths of jail prisoners from medical neglect while awaiting trial. The Press Club of Atlantic City, which sponsors the Headliner contest, called it “A bold, focused cry for decency and justice, in the best tradition of journalists challenging the powerful for the benefit of all.” Second place for editorial writing went to Tom McNamee, editorial page editor of the Chicago Sun-Times.
National awards for editorials are nothing new for Gerritt. He won last year's Walker Stone Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the 2018 Carmage Walls Commentary Prize, the 2017 Sigma Delta Chi award, a 2009 Headliner award, the NLA's Batten Medal for Courage in Journalism, the 2007 Michigan Excellence in Journalism Award and a special citation from the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.
Gerritt worked for The Toledo Blade and the Detroit Free Press before becoming editor in Palestine in 2018, according to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., which owns the paper. It recently announced that it is reducing the number of its weekly print editions from five to three, making it a weekly under an old industry rubric that is increasingly becoming outdated.
Garrett thanked his boss, Jake Mienk, "a gutsy, small-town publisher who’s not afraid to shake things up," and CNHI's senor vice president for news, Bill Ketter, for encouraging him to enter.
Ketter, a former Pulitzer board member, told The Rural Blog, "Jeff Gerritt has a special talent for offering serious thoughts on serious issues with sprightly, persuasive writing. No fuzziness or wishy-washiness in his editorials. He writes clearly, with a point that’s based on knowledge, common sense and facts. . . . His series of editorials on the poor state of medical and mental health treatment for county jail inmates in Anderson County -- and county jails across Texas -- can only be described as a small town paper successfully taking on a bigtime problem."
Ketter said the series "led to the local sheriff saying he would not run for re-election, a state legislative review of county jail oversight standards, and a Texas Rangers investigation into the death of a woman suffering a life-threatening condition" in the jail.
Editorial writing is the Pulitzer category where community newspapers succeed most; here’s a list:
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| Jeff Gerritt |
Earlier in the day, Gerritt won the News Leaders Association’s Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership in small markets, and that was on top of this year’s National Headliner Award for editorial writing.
Gerritt's entries included commentary on the paper’s “Death Without Conviction” series that examined deaths of jail prisoners from medical neglect while awaiting trial. The Press Club of Atlantic City, which sponsors the Headliner contest, called it “A bold, focused cry for decency and justice, in the best tradition of journalists challenging the powerful for the benefit of all.” Second place for editorial writing went to Tom McNamee, editorial page editor of the Chicago Sun-Times.
National awards for editorials are nothing new for Gerritt. He won last year's Walker Stone Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the 2018 Carmage Walls Commentary Prize, the 2017 Sigma Delta Chi award, a 2009 Headliner award, the NLA's Batten Medal for Courage in Journalism, the 2007 Michigan Excellence in Journalism Award and a special citation from the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.
Gerritt worked for The Toledo Blade and the Detroit Free Press before becoming editor in Palestine in 2018, according to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., which owns the paper. It recently announced that it is reducing the number of its weekly print editions from five to three, making it a weekly under an old industry rubric that is increasingly becoming outdated.
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| Map by Sperling's Best Places |
Ketter, a former Pulitzer board member, told The Rural Blog, "Jeff Gerritt has a special talent for offering serious thoughts on serious issues with sprightly, persuasive writing. No fuzziness or wishy-washiness in his editorials. He writes clearly, with a point that’s based on knowledge, common sense and facts. . . . His series of editorials on the poor state of medical and mental health treatment for county jail inmates in Anderson County -- and county jails across Texas -- can only be described as a small town paper successfully taking on a bigtime problem."
Ketter said the series "led to the local sheriff saying he would not run for re-election, a state legislative review of county jail oversight standards, and a Texas Rangers investigation into the death of a woman suffering a life-threatening condition" in the jail.
Editorial writing is the Pulitzer category where community newspapers succeed most; here’s a list:
- Art Cullen of the Storm Lake Times in northwest Iowa, 2017
- John Hackworth and Brian Gleason of The Charlotte Sun in Florida, 2016
- Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y., 2009
- Davis Moats of the Rutland Herald in Vermont, 2001
- Bernard Stein of The Riverdale Press, New York City, 1998
- Michael Gartner of The Daily Tribune, Ames, Iowa, 1997
- Thomas Hylton of the Pottstown Mercury in Pennsylvania, 1990
- Albert Scardino of the Savannah-based Georgia Gazette, 1984
- Warren L. Lerude, Foster Church and Norman F. Cardoza of the Reno Evening Gazette and Nevada State Journal, 1977
- John Daniell Maurice of the Charleston Daily Mail in West Virginia, 1975
- Roger Linscott of the Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfiedld, Mass., 1973
- John Strohmeyer of the Bethlehem Globe-Times of Pennsylvania, 1972
- Horance Davis of The Gainesville Sun, 1971
- Paul Greenberg of the Pine Bluff Commercial in Arkansas, 1969
- John R. Harrison of The Gainesville Sun, 1965
- Hazel Brannon Smith of The Lexington Advertiser in Mississippi, 1964
- Ira Harkey of the Pascagoula Chronicle in Mississippi, 1963
- Thomas Stroke of the Santa Barbara News-Press, 1962
- Buford Boone of the Tuscaloosa News, 1957
- Carl Saunders of the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Michigan, 1950
- Hodding Carter Sr. of the Delta Democrat-Times of Greenville, Miss., 1946
- E.P. Chase of the Atlantic News-Telegraph in Iowa, 1934
- Charles Ryckman of the Fremont Tribune in Nebraska, 1931
- William Allen White of the Emporia Gazette in Kansas, 1923
1 comment:
I was part of and article about salvaging lives in the court process which determined whether you go to prison or enter into a program that was designed to help in the treatment of those who have been diagnosed with a mental disorder. The program was designed for success with Chief judge Timothy Kenny and numerous professional people ready to help the client in all areas. I will always be in debt to the mental health Court program and judge kenmy
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