National recognition for journalist

Todd C. Frankel, AS ’97, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has won a national award that honors excellent news writing under deadline pressure.

Frankel, a general assignment reporter, was awarded the 2008 Jesse Laventhol Prize for Deadline News Reporting by an Individual from the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). The award was for three articles published last year in the Post-Dispatch, two of them concerning the case of Michael Devlin, convicted in the kidnapping of two young boys, and one about Memorial Day services at the graves of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which he told the story of a mother and father grieving for their son.

Frankel graduated from UD with a degree in English and a focus in technical writing. He wrote for the student newspaper, The Review.

“Todd is an excellent writer because he is an excellent reporter,” Managing Editor Pam Maples said in an article about the award in the Post-Dispatch. “He is a precise, vivid writer who brings readers along with him into the story.”

Frankel and other ASNE award winners and finalists will have their work featured in Best Newspaper Writing, a book edited by the Poynter Institute.