Gannett U.S. Community Publishing Honors Detroit Free Press for Outstanding Achievement in News; Paul Anger Named Editor of the Year
McLEAN, VA – The Detroit Free Press and its editor, Paul Anger, won the Gannett U.S. Community Publishing division’s top journalism awards for work in 2008.
The Free Press won the Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement Award for Best News Performance and Anger was awarded the top President’s Ring as Editor of the Year. In both cases, judges cited the sweeping breadth and depth of difficult topics that the news staff tackled, including work that led to the jailing of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Gold Medals and President’s Rings are the top honors given to newspapers and individuals, respectively, by U.S. Community Publishing.
“Our Gold Medal and President’s Ring winners amply demonstrate the outstanding local journalism that is being done throughout Gannett. All of our winners made their mark this year with strong public service journalism that changed the lives of people in their community,” said Bob Dickey, president of U.S. Community Publishing. “This kind of great local journalism is happening across our company, even in the midst of a major transformation. I applaud this work and honor these efforts.”
Two special citations also were announced:
* A Silver Medal was presented to The Star Press of Muncie for extraordinary improvement in journalism.
* Tom Callinan, editor and vice president/Content and Audience Development at The Cincinnati Enquirer, was presented the Signet Award, which marks an editor’s 10th President’s Ring. Tom is the third editor in Gannett’s history to have reached this mark.
Five other news staffs were named Gold Medal winners:
* The Des Moines Register
* The Tennessean at Nashville
* The Cincinnati Enquirer
* The Arizona Republic at Phoenix
* FLORIDA TODAY at Brevard
The other top President’s Ring winners are: First runner-up: Carolyn Washburn, vice president and editor, The Des Moines Register. Second runner-up: Jim Lewers, executive editor, Iowa City Press-Citizen.
Eight other Presidents Ring winners, listed alphabetically are:
* Ronnie Agnew, executive editor, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss.
* Tom Callinan, editor and vice president/content and audience development, The Cincinnati Enquirer.
* Randy Lovely, editor and vice president/News, The Arizona Republic. Karen Magnuson, editor and vice president/News, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
* Dennis Ryerson, editor and vice president, The Indianapolis Star
* Mark Silverman, editor and vice president/content and audience development, The Tennessean at Nashville.
* Bob Stover, executive editor, FLORIDA TODAY at Brevard.
* Gene Williams, executive editor, The Star Press at Muncie, Ind.
The judges for President’s Rings were: Craig Dubow, chairman, president and CEO; Bob Dickey, president, U.S. Community Publishing; Kate Marymont, vice president/News; Ann Clark, News executive; and Anne Saul, News systems editor.
About Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV Web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 85 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 850 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of Web sites.