Ken Ward Jr. is a co-founder of Mountain State Spotlight[1] and former staff reporter for theCharleston Gazette-Mail and writes about thecoal mining industry and itsimpacts on Appalachian communities. He is chairman of theSociety of Environmental Journalists First Amendment Task Force, founded in 2002 "to address freedom-of-information, right-to-know, and other news gathering issues of concern to the pursuit of environmental journalism."[2] He announced on Monday, February 24, that this would be his last day.[year needed][citation needed]
Ward is a native ofMineral County, West Virginia. He obtained his degree fromWest Virginia University.[3]
He began working at theCharleston Gazette in 1991. His work has focused on mine safety,mountaintop removal,[3] environmental and labor issues. He has covered theSago and theUpper Big Branch Mine disasters that killed 29 West Virginia coal miners.
Ward won anAlicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship[4] in 2006 to research and write about mining deaths in the coal industry. He is also a three-time winner of theScripps Howard Foundation'sEdward J. Meeman Award for his environmental reporting and won theLivingston Award for Young Journalists in 2000. His work and research on coal mine issues as an Alicia Patterson Fellow earned him anInvestigative Reporters and Editors medal.[3]
In October 2018, Ward was named aMacArthur Fellow (popularly known as "Genius Grants") by theJohn D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.[5] Ward is the first MacArthur Fellow to be living in West Virginia at the time of their award; the three previous recipients from West Virginia had moved away.[6]
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