John Woodrow Cox (2013)
On this episode, the podcast replays the interview Matt Tullis did with John Woodrow Cox from October 2013. Cox was the 12th guest on the podcast, and, at the time, was a general assignment reporter in Pinellas County for the Tampa Bay Times. On this episode, he talked about the short, narrative stories he was writing for the Floridian Magazine. The series was called \u201cDispatches from next door.\u201d They were short pieces \u2013 just 500 words \u2013 but painstakingly reported. He talked about two such pieces \u2013 one about a woman who is only able to find peace out on the ocean, and another about a senior citizen who is always on the look for a younger woman who will save him from loneliness. \n\nCox left the Times in 2014 and went to the Washington Post. He\u2019s an enterprise reporter with a focus on narrative journalism there. This year, his series about the impact of gun violence on children in America was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. He is currently working on a book that will expand on that coverage.\n\nHe\u2019s also written about a flawed sexual assault investigation in the Marines and about a 10-year-old who has HIV.\nSince joining the podcast, Cox has won several prestigious awards. He has won the Scripps Howard\u2019s Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest in Storytelling, the Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, Columbia Journalism School\u2019s Meyer \u201cMike\u201d Berger Award for human-interest reporting, and the Education Writers Association\u2019s Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting. He\u2019s also been named a finalist for the Michael Kelly Award and for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. His stories have been recognized by Mayborn\u2019s Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing contest and the Society for Features Journalism, among others.