The Star’s Melinda Henneberger named Pulitzer Prize finalist for editorial writing
The Star’s Melinda Henneberger earned one of journalism’s most prestigious honors for the second year in a row Monday when she was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Henneberger, a member of the Star’s editorial board since January 2017, was recognized last year for a collection of columns. This year she is a finalist in the editorial writing category. It is the third year in a row that The Star has been a finalist for a Pulitzer award.
The judges said Henneberger was recognized for her “fierce and unflinching defense of the women of Missouri on issues of abortion access, sexual assault and domestic violence.”
Henneberger’s editorials took stands against the abuse of power. Several of them argued that Missouri was cruelly harassing women who seek abortions.
Her editorials directly challenged decisions by state officials to keep a spreadsheet on the menstrual periods of women, insist on completely unnecessary pelvic exams, and pass some of the nation’s most extreme anti-abortion legislation in the middle of the night.
Other editorials questioned why the district attorney in Douglas County, Kansas, kept charging women with making false reports in cases of alleged sexual or domestic violence.
After coverage by Henneberger and Star reporter Katie Bernard, prosecutors ultimately dropped charges against three women.
Henneberger also wrote about allegations of child abuse against Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill, saying that if Hill broke his son’s arm, the Chiefs should part ways with their star receiver.
Writing of an almost-total abortion ban the Missouri Senate passed at 3 a.m. last May, Henneberger wrote that “ . . . the result of the Senate’s all-nighter is certainly clarifying: Let no one say they don’t know up to what point human life is valued by the GOP majority. The voiceless and vulnerable still in utero? Yes. The voiceless and vulnerable abused seventh grader? No.”
Being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize feels like a once-in-a-lifetime honor, said Colleen McCain Nelson, vice president and editorial page editor at The Star. To be named a finalist two years in a row in two different categories is an amazing accomplishment.
“Melinda has done truly unique and impactful work on The Star Editorial Board, doggedly pursuing tough-to-get interviews, calling out injustices and writing consequential editorials that make a difference in our community,” Nelson said. “She is passionate about opinion journalism, and that is evident in every editorial Melinda writes. She is doing important public service journalism for Star readers, and it’s thrilling to see her hard work recognized.”
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine Herald-Press, in Texas, won the editorial writing award for his series “Death without conviction,” which examined deaths of people in law enforcement custody, prompting action by state police and lawmakers.
Last year, Henneberger earned the national Mike Royko Award for Commentary and Column Writing in the 2019 News Leaders Association Awards. In 2018, she won the Scripps Howard Walker Stone Award for opinion writing for “a portfolio of work that is a revealing look at the people and political issues driving conversations in the heartland.”
“Bob Woodward once said that all good work is done in defiance of management,” Henneberger said. “Well, not here. More than anywhere I’ve ever worked, not here. And every single day, I’m proud to be in this fight, which is always on behalf of our readers, with all of my colleagues at The Star.”
Henneberger is also a contributing columnist at USA Today. Before coming to The Star, she served as a visiting fellow at the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic studies at the Catholic University of America, which is in Washington, D.C. As a reporter and editor, Henneberger has worked for Roll Call, Bloomberg Politics, the Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post and The New York Times, where she served as a Washington correspondent and bureau chief in Rome.
Before Henneberger’s Pulitzer finalist honors in 2019 and this year, The Star was named a finalist for the Pulitzer’s top prize, Public Service for the government transparency series, “Why so secret, Kansas?”
The series was surpassed only by The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine, which shared the Pulitzer gold for their combined body of work on Miramax film producer Harvey Weinstein and workplace sexual harassment that ignited the #MeToo movement.
“Melinda is one of the most important voices in journalism today,” said Mike Fannin, president and editor of The Star. “It’s rare but well-deserved for her to get this kind of recognition back-to-back. I’m also proud that The Star has been honored three years in a row for producing Pulitzer-level work.”
