Byron Tate, editor of The Pine Bluff Commercial, won second place in a national writing contest for editorials he wrote about Go Forward Pine Bluff, according to a news release.
The winners of the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize for editorial and column writing were announced Monday at the America’s Newspapers’ Senior Leadership Conference in Charleston, S.C.
Tate won in the under-35,000 circulation category. He said he entered the contest because the criteria called for examples of courageous writing.
“Our opposition to the tax supported by Go Forward put us in the crosshairs and at odds with many powerful people in Pine Bluff,” Tate said. “But as I told the judges, after the reporting we did pulled back the curtain on the tax and on those who pulled the strings on how the tax dollars were spent, the editorials rather wrote themselves.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Said one judge: “The thing I liked about Tate was he was taking on a local, tax-supported nonprofit and those guys — once they become ‘in place’ — they just roll along forever and nobody challenges anything they do.”
“Going after local officials in very blunt terms takes guts,” said another judge. “I know these editorials caused the paper some grief and put them in the spotlight.”
Winning the top prize in the editorial writing category was Dave Stafford, opinion page editor for The Republic newspaper in Columbus, Ind. Rebecca Pierce, executive editor of the Traverse City Record-Eagle in Traverse, Mich., received the third place award.
Two other Arkansas writers were named in the contest, both of whom work for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette of WEHCO Media, which also owns The Commercial. Rex Nelson, a senior editor, won third place in the above-35,000 circulation category for columns he wrote that called Gov. Sarah Sanders to task for how she was conducting herself as governor and how her administration was being run.
David Barham, editorial page editor for the statewide newspaper, was also named a finalist for editorials he wrote in opposition to Republican efforts to impeach President Biden.
This was the first time Tate had entered the Carmage opinion writing contest, named after Benjamin Carmage Walls, whose newspaper career spanned seven decades and showcased his advocacy for strong, courageous and positive editorial page leadership.
“It is indeed an honor to receive this award,” Tate said. “We are a small staff, and everyone contributes, so I see this as a team effort. I would be remiss, however, in not giving special recognition to Eplunus Colvin, whose reporting on this story was key to our coverage.”
America’s Newspapers is a trade association that provides research, education and practical information for the nation’s member newspapers.