Jacqui_Banaszynski_at_the_Missouri_School_of_Journalism_2008

Jacqueline Marie Banaszynski (born April 17, 1952) is an American journalist. She was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1988. Banaszynski went on to become a professor and a

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

Chair at the school of journalism at

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Biography

Born in

Pulaski, Wisconsin Pulaski ( ) is a village in Brown, Oconto, and Shawano counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,870 at the 2020 census. Of this, 3,650 were in Brown County, 220 in Shawano County, and none in Oconto County. The Brown and ...

, Banaszynski began working as a journalist in high school and when she was 15, became the associate editor of the school paper, the ''

Pulaski News The ''Pulaski News'' is a bi-weekly student-operated non-profit business, non-profit newspaper in Pulaski, Wisconsin, with a circulation of approximately 3,000. It was started in 1938. It reaches residents of not only Pulaski, but also of other co ...

''. Part of the appeal of working on the paper was that the journalism program gave her access to sporting events at the school level. Banaszynski graduated from Pulaski High School in 1970 and earned a degree in journalism from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

in 1974., graduating . Around 1984, Banaszynski started working for the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch''. In 1985, she went on assignment to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and her story about

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

ese victims of

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

, "The Trail of Tears," became a finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting This Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitz ...

in 1986. Banaszynski wrote a special report called "AIDS in the Heartland" while she was a reporter at the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch''. and The report was a series of stories that centered around the lives of two

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

Minnesota farmers, Both had contracted and died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. She and photographer Jean Pieri searched for a year for subjects that they felt could "humanize people afflicted by this terrifying new illness." Their choice of following Dick Hanson and his partner, Bert Henningson, at first upset readers of the newspaper, but after the final installment of the 3 part series, most readers seemed to sympathize with both men. The series won a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1988. In 1997, Banaszynski began working for ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' and in 2003, became the Associate Managing Editor for special projects and staff development. Banaszynski was inducted into the American Society of Sunday and Feature Editors Hall of Fame in 2008. She went on to become the Knight Chair at the

School of Journalism A journalism school is a school or department, usually part of an established university, where journalists are trained. 'J-School' is an increasingly used term for a journalism department at a school or college. Journalists in most parts of the ...

References

External links

Official siteOral history interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banaszynski, Jacqui American women journalists Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing winners Living people American women academics University of Missouri faculty Marquette University alumni 1952 births 21st-century American women writers St. Paul Pioneer Press people