Carole Tarrant Wins 2011 Mimi Award

Carole Tarrant, The Roanoke Times

Carole Tarrant, editor of The Roanoke Times, has been named winner of the 5th annual Mimi Award, a prize that recognizes editors who support and encourage excellence in the coverage of tragedy and trauma.

Stephen Engelberg, managing editor of Propublica, was named honorable mention.

The Dart Society created the Mimi to honor the memory of Providence Journal editor Mimi Burkhardt, who died unexpectedly in December 2004. Burkhardt inspired those around her to live up to high ideals and to produce outstanding journalism with heart. The Mimi was established to recognize editors who have a keen understanding of how to navigate the emotional landscape of assignments involving tragedy and trauma.

“The Mimi Award is one of the Dart Society’s signature events and one of the few journalism awards that specifically pays tribute to editors,” said Society President Jeff Kelly Lowenstein. “We are proud to welcome Carole Tarrant and Stephen Engelberg to the ranks of Mimi honorees.”

Tarrant led The Roanoke Times staff as it covered the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. She arranged for counselors and even massage therapists to care for her staff and she reassured them when they found themselves in stiff competition with some 500 reporters from across the globe — at the same time when many of them were still grieving the losses on their home turf.

In nominating Tarrant, Beth Macy wrote, “She’s the one I want crouched next to me in the journalism foxhole more than any editor I’ve worked for in 26 years of reporting. Because I know how much she cares – not just about me but about the story, the subjects in our stories and the importance of telling those stories to our readers.”

Stephen Engelberg, Propublica

Engelberg is known as an editor who advocates for his reporters and their stories, but he also insists his reporters show respect to those they write about by approaching them with honesty about their intentions, reporting on them accurately and keeping them informed about how they will appear in stories.

His nominators wrote, “Steve handles these challenges with passion, heart and humor, inspiring reporters to uncover facts they thought were undiscoverable, achieve a greater depth of understanding and more clarity in their writing.”

The Dart Society will honor Tarrant and Engelberg at a ceremony later this year.

“Editors are rarely recognized for their work, but they are often behind the scenes helping reporters and their stories reach their full potential. Especially at this time, when editors are also stuck with making difficult – and often unpopular – business decisions, it’s important to make sure the best editors know we recognize and appreciate their talent,” said Melissa Manware Treadaway, who heads the Society’s Mimi Award Committee.

The Dart Society is an independent group of journalists dedicated to promoting sensitive coverage of victims of violence and providing support for journalists who are affected by their work. Our members are fellows of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and their inducted colleagues, all of them dedicated to improving coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy. For more on the Mimi Award, click here.