Terry Hughes was 36 when she died of breast cancer on July 22, 1991. A columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, her writing was clear, witty and descriptive, with a flair for portraying society’s underdogs. Some of her columns chronicled the bouts with cancer that she and others faced. One column was credited with helping persuade the Missouri Legislature to approve a bill forcing insurers to pay for mammograms.
One of the many readers who wrote to the newspaper after her death described her work this way: “Her columns were full of real life stories that touched us all and even changed our way of thinking or even our lives.”
The St. Louis Newspaper Guild has established a writing award in the name of Ms. Hughes. The award is intended to honor a journalist whose writing shows the talent that she displayed.
Any journalist in the metropolitan St. Louis area who has written for a daily or weekly newspaper or for a magazine is eligible. Online publications are eligible as well.
Single articles of extraordinary merit will be considered. Preference will be given to entries of between three and ten articles that display the writer’s range of talent.
Articles must have been published in 2011. There are no formal applications. Anyone may submit a nomination by sending copies of articles to:
The Terry Hughes Award Committee
St. Louis Newspaper Guild
1015 Locust St.
Suite 735
St. Louis, Mo. 63101
The deadline for applications is Monday, January 9, 2012. The award will be presented at the Newspaper Guild’s Annual Dinner in late January.