Major contest expansion announced for 2023

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.

May 31 is deadline for entries
Submit an entry: Editorials

Submit an entry: Columns

Questions?

Questions about this contest should be addressed to Cindy Durham, communications director, America's Newspapers, at cdurham@newspapers.org or call (205) 728-5250.

New for '23: Separate awards for editorials vs columns

Carmage Walls Commentary Prize: 12 cash prizes to be awarded this year — up from 4 last year
A total of $15,000 in cash prizes will be awarded.

This contest is open to members of America's Newspapers.

Instead of one contest in which editorials and columns are judged together, two separate contests will be held in 2023 — one for excellence in editorial writing (representing the view of the newspaper) and one for excellence in column writing (columns written by one or more individuals).

In each of those contests, entries will be judged in two circulation brackets: over 35,000 circulation and under 35,000 circulation.  And, three cash prizes will be included in each bracket — giving 12 individuals the opportunity to win cash prizes in 2023 (up from four cash prizes in 2022). 

Cash prizes will be awarded in the following brackets:

  • Editorials (over 35,000 circulation)
  • Editorials (under 35,000 circulation)
  • Columns (over 35,000 circulation)
  • Columns (under 35,000 circulation)

Cash awards will be as follows in each of the four contest brackets: first-place, $2,250; second-place, $1,000; and third-place, $500. This puts total cash prizes at $15,000 — thanks to the generous support of Lissa Walls Cribb and Southern Newspapers, Inc.

In addition to the top three in each bracket, America's Newspapers also will be recognizing additional finalists.

This contest has always sought to recognize strong, courageous and positive editorial page leadership. Judges will be taking the courage it took to write the editorials or columns into highest consideration.

Editorial pages: An important key to rebuilding relevance and excitement among readers

Dolph Tillotson | Southern Newspapers, Inc.
Dolph Tillotson

Newspaper editorial pages, as once we knew them, may be dying. God, I hope not.

For if a newspaper has brains, it will show up on the editorial page. If a newspaper has a heart, it will show up on the editorial page. If a newspaper has courage, it will be most evident on the editorial page.

All those things — brains, heart and courage — are ephemeral, impossible to measure, and impossible to teach in a journalism class.

Yet those things are the building blocks on which any news organization builds its relationship with its community, its audience. That relationship is built over many years. It’s a lot like a marriage. Seriously.

Any lasting human relationship requires honesty. There will be mistakes, failure, occasionally broken trust. Marriages require forgiveness, over and over, and sometimes courage.

Building that kind of intimacy with a family of readers has been at the heart of newspapers’ success in the past. I think it may be an important key to how we rebuild relevance and excitement among our readers.

Many corporate owners of newspapers these days obviously disagree.

Some have banned editorial page endorsements as being more trouble than they’re worth. It’s rare today for newspapers to invest much in staff or other resources for editorial pages. No ads on that space equals no expenditures for it.

That’s as tragic, and as hopeless, as any form of suicide.

Publishers should see newspaper commentary as a vital means to build trust and to reinforce deep, lasting relationships with readers, even when it’s difficult and troublesome.

I grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where the newspaper’s publisher was Pulitzer winner Buford Boone. My conservative parents did not always agree with the more liberal Mr. Boone, but they read the paper and respected it while disagreeing often.

As I recall the dinner table conversations, their feelings often were intense, even passionate. Their loyalty over decades was in direct proportion to that passion.

When I retired as publisher of The Daily News in Galveston, Texas, a reader paid me what I still see as the ultimate compliment.

“I really didn’t think you were always right,” he said, “but I thought you were always trying to be.”

It was my friend’s way of saying he admired the newspaper’s willingness to take the risk of leadership, even when it was controversial or inconvenient. I still believe that risk is worth it.

Newspaper leaders have to make themselves vulnerable to risk. They must have the bravery to boldly argue for a better tomorrow. Otherwise we’re just a bunch of damn bulletin boards. The internet handles that role better than we do.

Newspapers, to have a future, must engage the brains, hearts and hopes of their readers. And if we don’t, shame on all of us.

Dolph Tillotson is chairman of Southern Newspapers, Inc.

Why editorials and columns matter

The difference between columns and editorials

Leonard Woolsey | Southern Newspapers, Inc.
Leonard Woolsey

You might ask yourself, what is the difference between a column and an editorial? While both represent the heartbeat of a newspaper, each includes a different objective and road to accomplishing a goal. While a column is generally a first-person account, an editorial represents the newspaper as an institution. Additionally, columns extend a latitude to the writer of choosing a profoundly personal matter or to give the reader a chuckle.

Consider a column as a personal conversation with the reader. An editorial is all business — much like putting on battle paint and heading into the world to make a difference. Editorials are not written to take up space but to create thought, generate discussion and lead to change. Both are critical to a great newspaper's DNA, each bringing tremendous value to our institution. 

This year's Carmage Walls Commentary Contest is an opportunity to show off your chops: wordsmithing, insightful observations, and moving a reader or stranger to action. Get in the game. 

Leonard Woolsey is president of Southern Newspapers, Inc., and president and publisher of The Daily News in Galveston, Texas.

Recognizing, rewarding and fostering editorial courage

Ned Barnett | The News & Observer
Ned Barnett

Many qualities can contribute to an excellent column or editorial, including eloquence, clarity, perceptiveness, humor, empathy and outrage, but the rarest and most compelling quality is courage. 

Editorial courage isn’t about being reflexively contrarian or provoking readers with partisan views. It’s about taking a risk to tell the truth. It’s saying what many readers won’t want to hear or taking aim at powerful local institutions. That’s a hard thing to do and the reaction can be hard to endure. But it’s essential to the value and integrity of journalism.

The Carmage Walls Commentary Prize seeks to recognize, reward and foster editorial courage.

Ned Barnett is associate opinion editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Highlighting the winners from 2022

1st Place Honors
over 50,000 circulation

Bridget Grumet, metro columnist with the Austin American-Statesman, was the recipient of the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize among large-circulation newspapers. Grumet also was awarded an Honorable Mention for a second entry. She was presented the award by Lissa Walls Cribb, CEO of Southern Newspapers. (Photo by Jeff Strout for America's Newspapers)
Staff | America's Newspapers
Bridget Grumet, metro columnist with the Austin American-Statesman
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1st Place Honors
under 50,000 circulation

PJ Browning (right), publisher of The Post and Courier in Charleston, presented the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize (under 50,000 circulation) to Cindi Scoppe (left), editorial writer, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, during the paper's quarterly business meeting. (Photo by Grace Beahm Alford / The Post and Courier)
Staff | America's Newspapers
Cindi Scoppe, editorial writer and columnist with The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina
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Kris Worrell, editor-in-chief of The Virginian-Pilot, presented the second-place Carmage Walls Commentary Prize in the over 50,000 circulation category to Brian Colligan, opinion editor of The Virginian-Pilot.
2nd Place Honors
over 50,000 circulation
Staff | America's Newspapers

Brian Colligan, opinion editor of The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Virginia
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Dave Stafford, opinion page editor of The Republic in Columbus, Indiana, was the second-place recipient in the under 50,000 circulation bracket. (Photo by Mike Wolanin/The Republic)
2nd Place Honors
under 50,000 circulation
Staff | America's Newspapers

Dave Stafford, opinion page editor of The Republic, Columbus, Indiana
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Additional finalists: David Bloom, Jeffery Gerritt, Eric Hartley, Lee Wolverton and Bridget Grumet
Staff | America's Newspapers

Five additional entries also were identified as finalists by the contest judges.