Mary C. Curtis facts for kids

Mary Cecelia Curtis (born September 4, 1953) is an American journalist. A journalist is someone who collects and shares news and information with the public. Mary has worked as a reporter and editor for many big news companies, like The New York Times and the Baltimore Sun.

She was honored in 2004 by the National Association of Black Journalists. Today, Mary writes columns for Roll Call, which is a newspaper about politics. She also helps people learn how to write opinion pieces for news. Mary is well-known for writing about politics, especially how it connects with different cultures and races. She is also important because she has worked to make newsrooms more diverse, meaning they include people from many different backgrounds.

Early Life and Education

Mary Curtis was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Thomas and Evelyn Curtis. She was named after her grandmother, Mary Cecelia, and uses her middle initial to honor her.

Many people in her family, including her mother, were very active in politics. Mary says that being around all this activity helped her become a journalist. She liked to watch and learn from what was happening around her.

Mary finished Seton High School in 1971. She was an editor for her school's newspaper. After high school, she went to Fordham University. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 1975. This degree helped her learn about how people share information.

Her Career in Journalism

Mary Curtis has worked for many important newspapers and websites in the United States. From 1985 to 1994, she was an editor at The New York Times. She even helped create a section called "The Living Arts." She also edited stories about arts and entertainment for the Baltimore Sun.

Mary worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press in New York and Connecticut. She also worked for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. She has written for many other news places too, like NBC News, NPR, and The Washington Post. She also talked about politics on a TV station in North Carolina.

Mary was a national correspondent for AOL's Politics Daily. This means she reported on national news, especially politics. She covered the U.S. presidential campaigns in 2008, 2012, and 2016. In 2011, she started writing for "She the People," a blog for The Washington Post. She also covered the Democratic National Convention in 2012 for the Charlotte Observer. She wrote a lot about U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. She explored how their family life influenced their political work.

In 2013, Mary Curtis was interviewed by The History Makers. This is a special project that collects stories and experiences of Black Americans.

Personal Life

Mary Curtis is married and has children. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is also Catholic.

Awards and Recognition

Mary Curtis has received many awards for her excellent work in journalism. Here are some of them:

• In 2004, she won a Green Eyeshade Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
• In 2005, she received the Carmage Walls Prize for her commentary from the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.
• In 2006, she was chosen for a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. This is a special program for experienced journalists.
• In 2011, she became a Kiplinger Fellow at the Scripps Journalism School.
• She has won multiple honors from the Clarion Award, given by the Association for Women in Communications. Most recently, she won in 2018 for her column in Roll Call.
• In 2004, Mary was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Region IV National Association of Black Journalists. This is a very high honor for journalists.