Democrat-Gazette wins editorial prize
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/201581/
The 2006 editorial staff of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — Paul Greenberg, George Arnold, David Barham and Kane Webb — has won the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize in the over-50, 000 circulation category for their submission “The case against Jim Holt.”
The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association announced the award on Thursday.
The entry was made up of four editorials printed on April 27 and 29; Aug. 11; and Nov. 29, 2006.
The editorials questioned the logic and humanity in former state Sen. Jim Holt’s 2006 campaign platform for lieutenant governor.
That platform focused on immigration, and he proposed legislation that would have denied prenatal care to illegal aliens.
The editorials described the legislation, the Arkansas Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, as a “mean-spirited little malignancy of a bill.”
“Whenever a bill pledges to protect the Taxpayer and Citizen, you can bet it’s gonna unprotect somebody else,” the staff wrote in the April 29 editorial.
“This is editorial writing at its best: tackling an issue of import to the community and doing so in a way that captures the attention of the readers,” contest judges wrote in a news release. “The entries were a pleasure to read, one of those ‘wish I’d written that’ moments.”
The association judged 28 submissions for the over-50, 000 circulation category of the contest, which emphasized state and local editorials.
“We are very complimented by the judges’ decision,” said Greenberg, Democrat-Gazette editorial page editor. “When it came to deciding what to enter, these editorials fit together.”
The names of the judges weren’t available.
The awards will be presented at the association’s annual convention at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., on Oct. 16.