Renée Schafer Horton, a longtime journalist and freelance contributor to the ӰAV, has won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ 2023 award for general print column.
She was honored for two columns that were published in 2022 on the Opinion pages of The ӰAV. They are:
Abortion and me:
The gun divide:
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The prestigious national award is the latest in a long list of recognition for Horton’s work.
“Renée Schafer Horton is a treasure,” said David McCumber, executive editor of the ӰAV. “These columns epitomize her fearless, compelling, eyes-wide-open style of opinion writing. That talent is backed by her quarter-century of distinguished work as a reporter and columnist. We are fortunate to be able to publish Renée’s writing.”
Responding when the abortion column was published, Horton’s former publisher when she worked for the Tucson Citizen. Michael Chihak, sent her the following message: “Never, never, never in your career have you written such a well-thought-out, well-researched and important piece as the one published in today’s ӰAV. … You have always shown courage as a journalist; yet this is the pinnacle of your bravery.”
Horton worked as a reporter at the Citizen from 2007 until 2009, focusing mostly on higher education but also handling a variety of general assignment tasks. Those included writing the obituary of William Bonanno Jr., interviewing Gloria Steinem, and getting the challenging assignment to cover the paper’s closure.
After beginning her career at the Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle, she went on to write a family life column that ran for a dozen years in many outlets, including the Dallas Morning News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and has freelanced extensively for Catholic publications across the country including the National Catholic Reporter.
Horton, who has lived in Tucson since 1999, has finished her first novel and is working on a second.