Rick Attig is an American journalist and author, formerly a member of the editorial board for ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'' newspaper in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. He was a 2008 Knight Fellow at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and twice shared the

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 Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

. Attig was born and raised in

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Oregon, Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton Co ...

. He earned his bachelor's degree in journalism and political science in 1983 from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

. Before he graduated, he was working as a reporter for the now-defunct Springfield News in

Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Willamette Valley, Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield, OR MSA, Eugene-Springfield metropolitan statistical area. Separ ...

. In 1984 he joined '' The Bulletin'' daily newspaper in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in central Oregon and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is located to the east of the Cascade Range, on the Deschutes River. The site became known by pioneers as a ford (cros ...

where he held a number of positions including senior writer, editorial page editor, and, beginning in 1995, executive editor. From 1998 to 2012, he was associate editor and member of the editorial board for ''The Oregonian'' in Portland. He has been recognized in his field with over 40 national, state, and regional awards. Attig was part of a group of Oregonian writers that won the 2001

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journali ...

for a series of articles and editorials about abuses in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. In 2006, he shared with his friend and colleague Doug Bates the

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, ...

, as well as the National Headliners 1st Place Award, and he was a finalist for the

American Society of Newspaper Editors The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of m ...

Distinguished Writing Award for his editorial writing about abuse of the mentally ill at the

Oregon State Hospital Oregon State Hospital is a public psychiatric hospital in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the state's capital city of Salem, Oregon, Salem with a smaller satellite campus in Junction City, Oregon, Junction City opened in 2014. Founded in ...

. In October 2015, Attig was inducted in the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication's Hall of Achievement. Attig earned a MFA in fiction in 2010 from Pacific University. His short stories have appeared in several anthologies and literary magazines. His wife, Courtenay Thompson, is also a writer and editor. Attig has two sons, Mitchell, 33, who works in environmental restoration in Portland, and Will, 20, a student at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the Irish fencing team.

References

Writers from Corvallis, Oregon University of Oregon alumni Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing winners Living people Journalists from Oregon The Oregonian people Year of birth missing (living people) http://biz.oregonian.com/newsroom/?sec=48&tert=32 http://www.headlinerawards.com/Winners2006Print.html http://asne.org {{US-journalist-20thC-stub