Dear judge,

Thank you for considering Cesar Salazar’s entry for the Dave Pyle New Journalist Award. Let me explain what’s made Cesar a special addition to our team.

For any new reporter, a big part of the job is catching up on the finer details of their beat. In the case of a rookie local government reporter, that means learning convoluted facets of how government functions. Within a couple months, Cesar went from being a novice on zoning and economic development to writing sophisticated stories such as “Winona extends 60 Main talks again; subsidies possible,” which has one of the one-sentence explanations of tax increment financing I’ve ever read.

It’s hard to measure in a contest, but any editor will tell you that the ability to generate good story ideas (and execute them) is invaluable in any reporter. As we were scraping the bottom of the barrel for story ideas at one news meeting, Cesar said, “Hey, I saw a bunch of motorcycles on my drive into town. I think there’s some kind of event going on.” He pitched me on going to check it out and seeing if there was a story there. With so little to go off of, I was skeptical, but Cesar came back with the article “Women on Wheels: Winona hosts international gathering.” It’s a great example of the kind of initiative and instinct Cesar has shown in generating story ideas and turning articles around, even with limited direction or background.

A proposal to demolish a recreation center to build a new police-fire station was a big controversy in town over the last few months, and Cesar covered it thoroughly, with numerous stories from every angle. We’ve included one of those stories, “Citizens react to Winona’s ERC-police-fire plans,” which I think is a great example of a foundational principle that too often gets lost in journalism: Go talk to the people directly affected. After closely covering the proposal at city hall, Cesar went to the recreation center and did shoe leather reporting talking to users about what they thought of the plans, educating some of them on the details of those plans, and listening carefully to their varied perspectives. Most importantly, he presented their comments in an accurate and thoughtful way that did justice to their points of view and helped give these people a voice in an important decision affecting their lives.

Cesar has a natural flair for writing, he’s great with a camera, and he has grown quickly to take on a wide variety of challenging and essential reporting in our community. I know he has a promising career ahead of him, and I’m glad to be a part of it. Thank you for considering him for this award.

Sincerely,
Chris Rogers
Editor
Winona Post