Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame
The Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have rendered outstanding service in the field of newspaper journalism in Florida.
Nominations to the Hall of Fame are accepted any time, but the deadline for consideration in the current year is April 1. Learn how to submit a nomination.
| Name: | Inducted: | About: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Paul Tash |
2022 |
Paul Tash started with the then-St. Petersburg Times as a local news reporter in 1978 and worked his way through various jobs to become chairman of the company before retiring in 2022. |
Read more about Paul Tash |
 |
Diane McFarlin |
2021 |
A true journalist at heart, Diane McFarlin is one of the most respected and successful media leaders in Florida and beyond. McFarlin not only ran one of the most successful and award-winning newspapers in the New York Times Regional Media Group; she also spearheaded philanthropic endeavors that changed lives in the communities she served, and transformed one of the nation’s leading journalism schools at a time of incredible disruption in the media landscape. |
Read more about Diane McFarlin |
 |
Marie Anderson |
2020 |
Anderson was a groundbreaking women’s page editor at the Miami Herald. She graduated from Duke University with a degree in English. After working in New York and then the Servicemen’s Pier in Miami, she started working at the Miami News. Later, she began working at the Herald in the 1950s, while being mentored by leading women’s page editor Dorothy Jurney. When Jurney moved on to Detroit in 1959, Anderson became the women’s page editor where she remained until her retirement from the newspaper in 1972. |
Read more about Marie Anderson |
 |
Matt Walsh |
2019 |
Matt Walsh, his wife, Lisa, in-laws David and Ruth Beliles and group of investors purchased The Longboat Observer in 1995. Nearly a quarter of a century later, Walsh and his wife have grown the company to employ more than 125 people and one of the largest family-owned and operated community media companies in the state of Florida. Committed to high journalistic standards, Walsh requires high-performance of his employees and inspires them to reach for the stars with his motto: “Ad Astra!” |
Read more about Matt Walsh |
 |
Garth Reeves |
2018 |
Garth Reeves has lived through events that most of us have only read about. Growing up in a newspaper family, he saw first-hand how his father published a newspaper every week, even through difficult times. They experienced true challenges, such as the paper shortages in the 1920’s, and then the infamous hurricane of 1926, when his family still got the paper out by turning the press by hand since there wasn’t electricity! |
Read more about Garth Reeves |
 |
Bill Cotterell |
2017 |
Bill Cotterell grew up in Miami and joined the U.S. Marine Corps after high school in 1961, serving in the Fleet Marine Force Pacific as a naval gunfire observer. He returned to Miami and attended Miami-Dade Junior College 1965-66. Cotterell began his newspaper career during that time as a copy clerk at The Miami Herald. |
Read more about Bill Cotterell |
 |
Frances DeVore |
2017 |
Frances DeVore was born Mary Frances Bell in Clarksville, Tennessee. After several moves, the family wound up in Greenville, Michigan in 1932, where Frances began working at the Greenville Daily News. This was the start of her newspaper career. |
Read more about Frances DeVore |
 |
Gil Thelen |
2016 |
Charlotte Observer reporter Marion Ellis once said about Gil Thelen that he “sees around corners.” He meant that Gil had a strategic instinct about where readers and newspapers were headed and a practical vision for getting there fast and effectively. |
Read more about Gil Thelen |
 |
J. Earle Bowden |
2016 |
For more than 60 years, Mr. Bowden was the cornerstone of journalism in Northwest Florida. Jesse Earle Bowden began working at the now-Pensacola News Journal in 1953 and worked until his death on Feb. 15, 2015. |
Read more about J. Earle Bowden |
 |
Larry Thompson |
2015 |
Larry (Lawrence) Thompson was a beloved American humor columnist and newspaper reporter for 28 years with The Miami Herald until his death in 1973. |
Read more about Larry Thompson |