Tony Messenger is a

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 ...

-winning columnist for the

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

Education and career

Messenger is a native of

Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Stati ...

, and attended

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

. Messenger began his journalism career at the Yuma Pioneer in

Yuma, Colorado Yuma is a List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Yuma County, Colorado, Yuma County, Colorado, United States. The populat ...

. He moved to Missouri in 1999 and worked as a columnist and editor at the

Columbia Daily Tribune The ''Columbia Daily Tribune'', commonly referred to as the ''Columbia Tribune'' or the ''Tribune'', is one of two daily newspapers in Columbia, Missouri, the other being the '' Columbia Missourian''. It is the only daily newspaper in Columbia wh ...

until 2006. He was editorial page editor of the

Springfield News-Leader The ''Springfield News-Leader'' is the predominant newspaper for the city of Springfield, Missouri, and covers the Ozarks. The ''News-Leader'' has a daily circulation of 32,363 and a Sunday circulation of 51,402 as of September 2013. Sunday si ...

until 2008. In 2008, Messenger joined the

Jefferson City Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...

bureau of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a capital correspondent and political columnist. He was named editorial page editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in July 2012 and became a metro columnist in September 2016. Messenger and colleague Kevin Horrigan were named finalists for the 2015

Pulitzer Prize for Commentary The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary is an award administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism "for distinguished commentary, using any available journalistic tool". It is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are ...

. They were cited "for editorials that brought insight and context to the national tragedy of Ferguson, MO, without losing sight of the community's needs." In 2019, Messenger won the

"for bold columns that exposed the malfeasance and injustice of forcing poor rural Missourians charged with misdemeanor crimes to pay unaffordable fines or be sent to jail." Messenger's work has also been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Society of New Editors and the Scripps Howard Foundation. In 2016 he was awarded the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism by the

University of Missouri School of Journalism The Missouri School of Journalism, housed under the University of Missouri in Columbia, is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in of journalism and strategic com ...

Awards

* 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary * 2016 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism * 2015 Finalist for Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (with Kevin Horrigan) * 2014 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Editorial Writing * 2014 American Society of News Editors Burl Osborne Editorial Leadership Award * 2014 Scripps Howard Foundation Walker Stone Editorial writing Award (with Kevin Horrigan)

References

External links

Appearances
on

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Tony Messenger
on Twitter {{DEFAULTSORT:Messenger, Tony People from Littleton, Colorado American columnists Living people Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winners Year of birth missing (living people)