On Thursday night, The Salt Lake Tribune held its inaugural News Makers dinner and awards to honor those who make the news and the figures that shape the news, Executive Editor Lauren Gustus said.
“Those who are brave enough to envision exciting futures and persistent enough to work to realize them, to stand up for issues others may deem too complicated and communities that have been marginalized,” Gustus said.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lauren Gustus, executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, speaks at the NewsMakers Awards in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023.
The Policy Project
The Policy Project’s Emily Bell McCormick, Mary Catherine Perry and Kristin Andrus received the Solutions Journalism Award. In the three years since it was formed, The Policy Project has removed barriers to opportunity through solution-based policy in Utah through multiple projects, including The Period Project, The Safe Child Project, The Teen Center Project and Period Positive Workplace.
In her speech, McCormick said five years ago, she had a growing fear that people around her she didn’t know were living in desperation.
“I understood that person in desperation to be a woman, to be many women, to be most women,” she said.
She said she understood this person in desperation to encompass individuals suffering at the hands of poverty and people who suffered at the hands of systems, and individuals forced into difficult circumstances they rarely chose.
“I knew I would use a portion of my life to change these things utilizing the one tool I could understand that could reach the source of these issues at their root; to dig them out, to burn them up and plant something beautiful — the tool was policy,” she said.
The first project they launched, The Period Project, focuses on ending “period poverty” by providing access to menstrual products in schools, workplaces and public spaces.
The Period Project led the effort to pass legislation in 2022 that requires all public and charter schools in the state to provide period products in girls’ and unisex restrooms.
Gail Miller
Gail Miller, a business leader and philanthropist who is known for her resolute commitment to the community, received the first-ever News Makers Award.
“I’ve leaned into our guiding principle — I’ll go about doing good in the world until there’s too much good in the world,” Miller said. “This includes striving to be a good person and exercising daily actions of civility, kindness, service and love.”
Zions Bank is underwriting a $100,000 reporting fund in her name, in recognition of Miller’s impact.
“Gail has chosen to cover west-side issues in 2024,” Gustus said. “This gift will ensure that reporting is free to the public — that’s a theme tonight — and featured in many spaces and places.”
Tim Fitzpatrick
The Tribune Service Award was given to Tim Fitzpatrick, a writer and editor who produced award-winning journalism in his 40 years at the paper, and who is known for wearing iconic red Converse All-Stars to work every day.
“The Tribune is a collective organism,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is defined by the people who put out the product every day … and that has allowed it to stay relevant for a century and a half.”
Tim’s grandfather, John F. Fitzpatrick, was the publisher of The Tribune from 1924 to 1960. Though challenges and staff look very different from that time, Tim said the goal remains the same: “giving Utahns the vital information they need so they can build a better Utah.”
The Tribune also announced it will name an award after his family — the Fitzpatrick Fellowship — which will provide reporting opportunities for college students over the summer.
Changes since becoming nonprofit
Since the Tribune became a nonprofit in 2019, Gustus said the biggest and most critical change the newspaper has made is listening more, especially at the start of the reporting process.
“We’re focusing on who’s affected, not who’s passing legislation but who’s going to be impacted by it,” Gustus said.
Gustus explained west side reporter Alixel Cabrera put listening into action with the Reaching For Air Project, a collaboration with KUER. The project aims to share first-person stories from 100 people living on the west side of the valley about their experiences with air quality — residents on the west side suffer from worse air and higher health risks than others in the Salt Lake Valley.
As The Tribune looks to the future, Gustus explained they have two main priorities: “First, to ensure that those beyond this valley have access to news and information they can use to strengthen their communities,” she said. “The second is that Utahns have access to quality local journalism whether or not they’re able to pay for it.”
Regardless of any changes in the future, Gustus said The Tribune’s mission will continue to be to serve as an “essential community resource.”
