OSHKOSH — Jeff Gerritt, an Oshkosh native who now serves as editor of the Palestine (Texas) Herald-Press, last week was named a 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner in editorial writing.
Gerritt earned the award for Death Without Conviction, a series that examined how people were dying in Texas county jails from medical neglect before ever being charged with a crime. The series began after a woman, Rhonda Newsome, died in Anderson County Jail, and the Sheriff’s Department refused to provide answers on how she died in custody, Gerritt told the Oshkosh Northwestern.
After graduating from Marquette University with a master’s degree in journalism, Gerritt started his professional career in 1985 as a reporter for the Northwestern. He went on to work at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Detroit Free Press and USA Today. He later served as deputy editor of the Toledo (Ohio) Blade before becoming editor of the Herald-Press in 2017.
Prior to winning the Pulitzer Prize, Gerritt has been honored with numerous other awards during his career. Among the honors is a Michigan Excellence in Journalism Award and a special citation from the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.
