Finalists announced for Carmage Walls Commentary Prize

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, Fort Pierce, 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, 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, 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, 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

In addition to recognition and beautiful plaques, cash awards also will be presented as follows in each of the four circulation 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.

Additional Honorable Mentions also will be announced Nov. 4.

Watch for the announcement of awards on the America's Newspapers website on the afternoon of Nov. 4.

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.