By Dave Astor
NSNC Archivist
The winner of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ 2022 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award is…Mary C. Curtis.
Mary C. – who will receive the honor during next June’s NSNC conference in Birmingham, Alabama – has had a long and varied career that’s still going strong as she continues to offer powerful and eloquent commentary on race, politics, culture, and other matters during this contentious, news-heavy time. Her widely read Roll Call column also appealingly mixes in humor and personal elements.
That column is only one aspect of Mary C.’s extensive résumé. She hosts the Roll Call podcast “Equal Time with Mary C. Curtis,” has been a commentator on many TV shows, and is a Senior Leader with The OpEd Project, among many other things.
“Thank you so much for this incredible honor and for placing me in such an illustrious group of winners,” said Mary C. “Receiving it from peers I respect is icing on the cake.”
NSNC President Tony Norman added, “If it’s possible to be a super fan of a fellow columnist, then I’m Mary C. Curtis’ No. 1 groupie. As much as I admire – and envy – her considerable accomplishments as a journalist and commentator, I absolutely adore her on a personal level.
“I usually only get to see her at our annual conferences,” continued the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist, “but when we do reconnect, it’s always a thrill because she always comes bearing journalistic wisdom or interesting stories at the very least.
“I’m beyond thrilled that Mary C. Curtis, our elegant and stalwart colleague, has been named the 2022 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement winner.”
Mary C. – who covered the 2020, 2016, 2012, and 2008 presidential campaigns – has worked at The New York Times, Charlotte Observer, Baltimore Sun, Associated Press, and other media outlets. She has also taught at various universities, and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.
The winner of numerous awards has spoken three times at NSNC conferences: a solo talk in Buffalo in 2019, and as a panelist during the 2014 meeting in Washington, DC, and the 2011 gathering in Detroit.
Mary C.’s honors include Clarion Awards from the Association for Women in Communications, awards from the National Headliners and the Society of Professional Journalists, three first-place awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Thomas Wolfe Award for an examination of Confederate heritage groups.
She has contributed to several books, including an essay in this year’s “Covering Politics in the Age of Trump” (LSU Press), a collection from 24 top journalists. And she has been chosen for The HistoryMakers, the single largest collection – archived in the Library of Congress – that promotes successes and documents events important to the African-American community and American society.
Past winners of the 1993-founded Pyle honor – named after the renowned columnist who died while covering World War II – include Dave Barry, David Broder, Art Buchwald, Maureen Dowd, Roger Ebert, Ellen Goodman, Pete Hamill, Molly Ivins, Steve Lopez, Mary McGrory, Clarence Page, Kathleen Parker, Leonard Pitts Jr., William Raspberry, Andy Rooney, Connie Schultz, and George Will, among others.
A 2019 NSNC interview with Mary C. can be seen at the link below. And more information about her can be found on her website at www.maryccurtis.com
Dave Astor writes the weekly “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column for Baristanet.com, blogs weekly at DaveAstorOnLiterature.com, and is the author of “Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time: The Book Lover’s Guide to Literary Trivia.”
