P.O. Box 548, 132 Fairfield St. West, Twin Falls, ID 83303-0548 (208) 733-0931
Jan. 21, 2016 Dear Judges:
I humbly nominate Times-News reporter Julie Wootton for the Idaho Press Club Reporter of the Year Award for her outstanding beat coverage, series reporting and ongoing coverage of one of the community’s top issues. A full-time education reporter, Wootton covers 20 school districts in southern Idaho but has a knack for delivering enterprise and watchdog journalism that goes far beyond school board meetings. Take her investigation into a new state pay scale for teachers, which included an interactive database of teacher salaries obtained through public-records requests that helped show the state’s efforts would do little to retain experienced educators in Idaho. Wootton was also the lead reporter on a four-part series on the unprecedented growth of the region’s Hispanic community. Told mainly through the residents of a single Hispanic neighborhood, the series took readers inside the lives of real people struggling to acclimate in a community that was slow to embrace this quickly growing demographic group. The series, El Nuevo Jerome, coupled compelling narrative writing with traditional deep news reporting on political, economic and social implications. Coordinating with interpreters and building relationships in the neighborhood, Wootton devoted hundreds of hours to the series, which represented the most comprehensive coverage of the Hispanic community ever published in southern Idaho. Her reporting was met with near universal acclaim and helped frame the issue in new light for Hispanics and native-born residents alike. Months before the national narrative was focused on refugee resettlement, Wootton was reporting on the issue in southern Idaho. She broke news in April that Syrian refugees may be among those being resettled in Twin Falls through the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center, and her reporting since has run the gamut, from deadline meeting coverage to covering
opposition groups to interviewing top federal officials for explanatory pieces on how the program works. Wootton’s reporting was the foundation for a town hall-style community forum hosted by the newspaper, whose panel included top federal officials charged with overseeing refugee resettlement. Her nuanced reporting has led to a much deeper community understanding for the role refugees play in our region. And her reporting continues: She’s recently begun preparing for a year-long series following a refugee family’s first year in the United States. I’m proud to have Julie Wootton in my newsroom and believe she’s truly deserving of this award.
Matt Christensen Times-News Editor