HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The 2016 Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing was awarded to a Marshall University alumnus.
John Hackworth, a 1971 graduate and Huntington native, is the editor for the Sun Newspapers in Charlotte Harbor, Fla. He shares the prize with one of his coworkers for their work on a series of articles involving an inmate who was beaten to death by 10 guards at the Charlotte Correctional Institute.
“All 10 of those guards returned to work at the prison within six months and got their jobs back. We just thought that was a travesty of justice,” he said. “We wrote about a dozen stories and it really made a difference in the community I think.”
Hackworth, 68, was a guest on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.” He’s been with the Sun for about 20 years after working for the Knight-Ridder in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the Ashland Daily Independent in Ashland, Kentucky and The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington.
“I always loved to write all my life,” he said.
With many local and regional newspapers struggling to put resources into certain issues, Hackworth said he does not believe print journalism is in jeopardy.
“We have a strong belief that it’s all about what you write and how you approach it,” he said.
Hackworth said the Sun papers are “flourishing.” He said they hope to hire more reporters there, specifically from West Virginia.
“We’d love to have some people, especially Marshall graduates, to come down here and work for us,” he said.
The recipients of this year’s Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday in Columbia University’s Pulitzer Hall.
Julia Keller, another Marshall alumnus and former Daily Independent reporter, won the Pulitzer Prize back in 2005 for feature writing.