Tony Plohetski
Recipient of the STAR REPORTER OF THE YEAR award in The Charles E. Green Awards (2022)
TONY PLOHETSKI
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Judge’s Comments:
Some stories make a career. You get thrown into it and work harder than you ever thought you could, and you keep working. That’s what happened to Tony Plohetski with Uvalde. He rose to the challenge and produced scoop after scoop for the Statesman with gripping stories that provided not just the news, but important context and heart. Many of these stories have shared bylines — and that’s a good thing. This story involved just about the entire Statesman newsroom; as the late David Carr said, when the big story hits, it’s an all-hands effort, and “I just want to get in the boat and row.” Plohetski did, and produced work that has influenced the national dialogue over school shootings. That’s why he gets my vote as Star Reporter of the Year.
John R. Schwartz
Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
School of Journalism Media
Judge’s Bio:
John Schwartz is a professor of practice in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism Media, and the associate director of the university’s Global Sustainability Leadership Institute.
He began his teaching career in 2021. From 2000 until July 2021, he worked at the New York Times, primarily as a science writer. He spent the last seven years there as part of the newspaper’s dozen-person team covering climate coverage. The Times initially hired him to cover technology; his later beats included the U.S. space program, including the loss of the shuttle Columbia and its crew, Hurricane Katrina and the efforts to rebuild hurricane protection around the city, and legal affairs. Over his years at the Times, his reporting took him from Moscow to the Mojave Desert, and involved everything from riding a mud-spewing dredge on the Mississippi River to climbing to the top of a 300-foot wind turbine to strapping into a jet pack. From 1993 until 2000, at the Washington Post, he reported on topics that included federal efforts to regulate the tobacco industry, the Unabomber case, and the school shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas. At the NYT and WP, he wrote stories for nearly every section of the newspaper. From 1985 until 1993, he worked at Newsweek Magazine, ultimately becoming a senior editor in the business section.
He has written several books, including "Oddly Normal: One Family's Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality," and "This Is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order.”
He was born in Galveston, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas and its law school. He is the son of the late A.R. “Babe” Schwartz, a former Texas state senator, and the late Marilyn Schwartz, a civic official and businesswoman. He is married to his college sweetheart, Jeanne Mixon. They have three children, who live in Texas, in New Jersey and in Australia, and two grandchildren.
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