David Moats of the Rutland (Vermont) Herald won a Pulitzer Prize today for editorial writing. I cannot think of a more deserving winner of my profession’s highest honor.
David hired me for my first full-time job in journalism. He and I were the entire editorial staff of the Valley Voice, a tiny weekly paper in Middlebury, Vermont.
David Moats is one of the finest people I’ve known in this sometimes mean-spirited business. He is thoughful. He is kind. He is a poet.
David taught me more than any editor in my career. He taught me about reporting, about fairness, about thoroughness and the other fundamentals that have remained with me ever since.
He won the Pulitzer for editorials about Vermont’s struggle with how to give gay couples the rights they deserved. Much of Vermont’s electorate is still far to the right, and many of the politicians who voted for this pathbreaking legislation were defeated. David’s editorials were a model of fairness even as they took a principled stand in favor of human rights.
I’m thrilled for him today. I’m glad for my profession.