David Clark Scott |
The first-ever Mimi Award was presented to David Clark Scott, international news editor at The Christian Science Monitor, who helped win the release of freelancer Jill Carroll after she was kidnapped in Iraq in 2006.
Carroll and others at The Christian Science Monitor nominated Scott for the award. In a nominating letter, Scott was described as "the editor every Monitor reporter wants on the other end of the phone."
As international news editor during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001,the invasion of Iraq and it’s the invasion’s aftermath, Scott edited copy under tough deadlines, shaping coverage from correspondents in dangerous and often highly emotional situations. He is lauded as having saved a reporter's life when the correspondent in Africa contracted malaria and did not have access to adequate healthcare.
David Clark Scott and Jill Carroll meet in the newsroom after Carroll's return from Iraq. (Christian Science Monitor) |
Scott faced an editor's worst fears beginning Jan. 7, 2006, when Carroll was kidnapped and her friend and translator, Alan Enwiya, was killed by Sunni Muslim insurgents in Baghdad. Scott had hired Carroll over the phone and had worked with her for a year without ever actually meeting her. He played a key role on the Monitor team that worked around the clock over the next 82 days to secure her safe release.
Scott was chosen for The Mimi because he not only did what all reporters hope their bosses would do in a life-threatening situation, but he also encouraged excellent journalism. He edited the 11-part series that Carroll wrote about her ordeal.
Tina Croley, features editor of the Detroit Free Press, won honorable mention in the 2007 contest. Croley's reporters described her as deeply engaged with their stories from the very beginning, agonizing over every sentence and every word and committed to figuring out, after a piece runs, how to improve the process next time.
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