Honoring excellence in editorials and columns

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. His daughter — Lissa Walls Cribb — is CEO of Southern Newspapers.

EDITORIALS - under 35,000 circulation
First-Place

Dave Stafford

Opinion Page Editor
The Republic
Columbus, Indiana

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Second-Place

Byron Tate

Editor
Pine Bluff Commercial
Pine Bluff, Arkansas

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Third-Place

Rebecca Pierce

Executive Editor
Traverse City Record-Eagle
Traverse City, Michigan

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Additional finalists in this category are:

    • Dave Coffey, editorial page editor, The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Massachusetts — Read more
    • Josh Edwards, editor, The Daily Sentinel, Nacogdoches, Texas — Read more
    • Blake Fontenay, columnist, TC Palm / Treasure Coast Newspapers, Fort Pierce, Florida — Read more

 

EDITORIALS - over 35,000 circulation
First-Place

Dion Lefler

Opinion Editor
The Wichita Eagle
Wichita, Kansas
This entry was submitted on behalf of The Wichita Eagle and the Kansas City Star.

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Second-Place

Lucy Young-Oda

Editorial Page Editor
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Honolulu, Hawaii

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Third-Place

Nick Hrkman

Community Impact Editor
Dayton Daily News
Dayton, Ohio

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An additional finalist in this bracket is:

  • David Barham, editorial page editor, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock, Arkansas — Read more
COLUMNS - under 35,000 circulation
First-Place

Dion Lefler

Opinion Editor
The Wichita Eagle
Wichita, Kansas

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Second-Place

Greg Weatherbee

Publisher
The Lufkin Daily News
Lufkin, Texas

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Third-Place

Charita Goshay

Columnist
The Canton Repository
Canton, Ohio

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Additional finalists in this category are:

  • Yvonne Mintz, editor and publisher, The Facts, Clute, Texas — Read more
  • Steve Stewart, publisher, The Smithfield Times, Smithfield, Virginia — Read more
COLUMNS - over 35,000 circulation
First-Place

Nedra Rhone

Lifestyle Columnist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta, Georgia

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Second-place

Suzette Hackney

National Columnist
USA TODAY
Washington, D.C.

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Third-place

Rex Nelson

Senior Editor
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Little Rock, Arkansas

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Additional finalists in this category are:

    • Bridget Grumet, metro columnist, Austin American-Statesman, Austin, Texas — Read more
    • Carlton Winfrey, editorial writer/columnist, The Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington — Read more