AP editor wins 'compassion and leadership' award

An editor at the Associated Press has been awarded the Dart Society's 2010 Mimi Award after being nominated by former colleagues.

Jim Trotter, the West Enterprise editor for AP, received the award which is given to a US print, online or wire news service editor who "embodies the compassion and leadership" of the late Providence Journal editor Mimi Burkhardt.

Trotter, who was previously the assisting managing editor of the Rocky Mountain News until it closed down last year, was will receive a prize of $1,000 next month.

According to a post on the Dart Center, Trotter was nominated by reporters from the Rocky Mountain News newspaper, who are quoted as saying he is an inspirational editor.

"To work on a project with Jim is to learn much about writing, much about narrative and much about the nature of great reporting. But what places Jim among the best editors of his generation is his ability to point writers toward a better understanding of the human condition and the role journalists can still play in making that condition just slightly better."

It was one of RMN's last special reports, 'Final Salute', overseen by Trotter, which was put forward as his nomination essay. The article had already won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2006.

Mimi Committee chairperson Melissa Manware Treadaway said in a release that the accolades paid to him in nominations were of the highest order.

"Every year, our judges are presented with a slate of incredibly talented and nurturing editors. These men and women so rarely get the glory, but they really are the backbone of so many of the best stories written. One writer said Jim pushed him to do better work than he ever imagined he could. To me, there is no bigger compliment for an editor."

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