The National Press Foundation awards Suki Dardarian, editor and senior vice president of the Minnesota Star Tribune, the Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year Award for 2024.
As the decline of local newspapers accelerates, Dardarian’s leadership of the Star Tribune and the 43 years she has spent producing impactful journalism for local communities stand out for their excellence, NPF judges said.
Dardarian accepted the award at the National Press Foundation Annual Journalism Awards Dinner on Feb. 20.
This coincides with her retirement, which was announced in December of 2024.
In August of 2024, the Star Tribune did the unthinkable in the news industry. It launched a reboot – of its platform, content, design and name – which resulted in the hiring of more reporters, expanded coverage beyond the Twin Cities across the state, and a focus on topics of direct interest to Minnesotans.
Dardarian “has been the face of this transformation,” Kyndell Harkness, head of culture and community for the Star Tribune, told the NPF Editor of the Year selection committee. Harkness said Dardarian has been “authentic,” “instrumental,” and “inspirational” during a year-plus of discussions inside the news organization and across the state that helped shape the dramatic change.
“She makes it real for the newsroom and for the partnership with the community,” Harkness said.
Named for the esteemed Washington Post editor, the National Press Foundation established the Editor of the Year Award in 1984 to recognize significant achievements that enhance the quality of journalism in the United States. Previous winners include Monica Richardson, Dean Baquet, Marty Baron, David Remnick and Tina Brown.
“Suki is so committed to doing the right thing. She has a tremendous backbone and north star, and she’ll be missed,” CEO and publisher Steve Grove said in the Star Tribune announcement.
Dardarian joined the Star Tribune as senior managing editor in 2014 and became its top editor in 2022.
During her tenure, the Star Tribune has won numerous journalism awards including the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its coverage of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police and the protests that followed. The Floyd coverage was also recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association.
The reckoning about race across the United States sparked by Floyd’s murder also hit inside the Star Tribune’s newsroom. Dardarian set up internal committees and working groups to discuss and implement recommendations from journalists of color that included key hiring decisions and improved coverage guidelines.
After retiring as the newsroom leader, Dardarian will remain in an advisory role to help with the transition to a new editor.
Prior to joining the Star Tribune in 2014, Dardarian spent 14 years at the Seattle Times. As managing editor overseeing news and enterprise, the paper won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its coverage of the shooting deaths of four police officers.
She began her career as a reporter at the Everett Herald in Washington state, then had an award-winning stint at the News Tribune in Tacoma that included being cited as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting.
