Meet The News & Observer’s trusted and talented 2022 award winners
Ask neighbors, friends and family — or anyone who works — what they like best about their job.
Human nature and research trend the same way: Co-workers matter.
Noted researcher Marcus Buckingham tackled the topic for Harvard Business Review in an article appropriately titled, “What is a Good Job?”
Among Buckingham’s conclusions: “A good job always appears to be one where someone is part of a trusted team.”
That’s why I want to introduce you to The News & Observer’s 2022 award winners:
Newcomer of the Year: Teddy Rosenbluth
Co-Worker Who Brings Us Great Joy: Brooke Cain
Co-Worker Who Embraces #WinningCulture: Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
Team Player of the Year: Korie Dean
Editor of the Year: Mark Schultz
Journalist of the Year: Tyler Dukes
I work with a trusted team that’s focused on building trust. How good of a job is that!
What makes The N&O’s annual awards different is you know the winners. You’ve seen their bylines and followed their coverage. You may not know all the marvelous ways they help The N&O and contribute to the goodness of the Triangle.
Quiet determination, plus popcorn
It’s easy to understand why Teddy was named The N&O’s Newcomer of the Year. Teddy is this quiet, determined force who always finds a way. She had to learn the community quickly while also venturing into a newly created beat. When Walmart wouldn’t respond to her calls, she called their pharmacists. Reaction to her stories on Walmart putting limits on dispensing a miscarriage drug prompted a congressional response and the company rescinding its policy.
Brooke leads our Service Journalism team, which helps Triangle residents make sense of how news affects their daily lives. Brooke, though, is more than a behind-the-scenes editor. She’s the byline behind our popular TV coverage, the sage counselor for staffers young and old, and the office magician for everything from rehabbing a popcorn maker to managing N&O merchandise for the staff.
Dawn is a lead voice on the influential Under the Dome podcast and the one who always has her hand up at Gov. Roy Cooper’s occasional press conferences. She’s also the most competitive person in our newsroom – and that’s OK even when she keeps score during lunchtime UNO tournaments. Our #WinningCulture mantra in 2022 is powered by Dawn’s willingness to bring journalists together for candid discussions and the occasional field trip. Dawn loves her job and this community, but she makes sure we don’t get complacent.
Korie joined The N&O late last year as part of our newly formed Service Journalism team. She has lived in the region, graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and has covered everything, from the State Fair pumpkin contest to lead testing on the UNC-CH campus to contributing to The N&O’s coverage of the Hedingham mass shooting. Wrote an awards nominator about Korie: “She goes out of her way to make people feel appreciated …”
Patience, mentoring and making us better
Many readers know Mark. He has had a long, distinguished career in the Triangle. Early career journalists value Mark for his patience, mentoring and deep knowledge of the community. Mark is editor of two successful weekly newsletters — The Orange Report and The Durham Report — that are worth a read and offer hints on how he contributes to this community in nuanced ways.
Tyler touched significant investigative stories this year, from the rise of Wall Street investors in the North Carolina housing market to piecing together audio that provided context and a timeline on the Hedingham mass shooting. Tyler was on an engineering path at N.C. State University when journalism got in the way. We’re so happy. A colleague wrote: “Whatever Tyler touches, he makes better. Much better.”
There are easier ways to make a living than being an editor. But when you work with a trusted, talented team, good jobs feel like great ones.
Bill Church is executive editor of The News & Observer.
This story was originally published December 17, 2022 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Meet The News & Observer’s trusted and talented 2022 award winners."
