I guess if we had to lose a national journalism prize to someone, we could do worse than a reporter at The Washington Post.
Our staff writer Joan Garrett was named a finalist last week for the Freedom Forum/ASNE Award for Distinguished Writing on Diversity.
ASNE stands for the American Society of News Editors, an organization that each year honors the best journalism in the country. Its contest is regarded as one of the premier competitions in the United States.
Joan’s Sept. 19 story was on Aquarnetta Porter, an HIV-positive, former drug-addicted prostitute who is trying to turn her life around and currently attends Chattanooga State. (You can read Joan’s story again at https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/sep/19/woman-turns-brutal-past-reclaim-life-she-threw-awa/. Or go to timesfreepress.com and search for “Aquarnetta.”)
In addition to the immense pride we take in being a finalist for the ASNE contest, the honor validates our commitment to long-form storytelling. No media organization but a newspaper — and in many cases, only this newspaper — could tell Aquarnetta’s story.