First-, second- and third-place awards for EDITORIALS and COLUMNS will be presented Nov. 4 at the Senior Leadership Conference in Colorado Springs.
Separate awards will be presented in each category for newspapers under 35,000 and those over 35,000 circulation.
In alphabetical order, the finalists from both circulation groups in this year's Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition are:
For COLUMNS:
- Blake Fontenay, columnist, TCPalm / Treasure Coast Newspapers, Stuart, Florida (now commentary editor for USA TODAY)
- Charita Goshay, columnist/reporter, The Canton Repository, Canton, Ohio
- Stephanie Grace, columnist and editorial director, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Douglas Lyons, editorial writer and columnist, The Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, Florida
- Faimon A. Roberts III, columnist, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Steve Stewart, publisher, The Smithfield Times, Smithfield, Virginia
For EDITORIALS:
- Dave Coffey, editorial page editor, The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
- Arnessa Garrett, deputy editor | opinion, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Inez Russell Gomez, editorial page editor, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Nick Hrkman, community impact editor, Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Ohio
- Victor Joecks, columnist, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Byron Tate, editor, Pine Bluff Commercial, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Additional Honorable Mentions also will be announced Nov. 4.
