Cynthia Tucker

editor, editorials, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tucker was born in 1955 in Monroeville, Alabama in the age of segregation; she did not attend an integrated school until she was a junior in high school. She then attended Auburn University and pursued double major of English and journalism and wrote for the student newspaper, *The Plainsman*. After graduation in 1976, she applied for a job at *the Atlanta Journal-Constitution *(AJC) where she was hired as a reporter. In 1980, she left Atlanta and the AJC for a job at the *The Philadelphia Inquirer*. Shortly thereafter, Tucker decided she wanted to be a foreign correspondent in Africa, but *the Inquirer* felt she was too inexperienced for the assignment. Tucker set out on her own, traveling around Africa and freelancing for six months. Realizing she had had enough of the experience, she returned to Atlanta where she was rehired as a columnist by *the AJC*. Tucker was selected as Nieman Fellow by Harvard University in 1988. She was promoted to her current position as editorial page editor of the AJC in 1990. In 1993, the National Women's Political Caucus awarded Tucker their Exceptional Merit Media Award. In 2005, Tucker received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College. Tucker currently writes two columns each week for *the AJC *appearing on Wednesday and Sunday. Her columns are further syndicated to over 40 U.S. newspapers and appear on the AJC's website. Those columns earned her nominations for the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2004 and 2006 before her eventual win in 2007.