Publisher named Journalist of the Year
Howell County News publisher and co-owner Amanda Mendez has been named the inaugural Journalist of the Year by the Missouri Press Association. In a September 27 phone interview, Mendez reflected, “I didn’t choose journalism. Instead, journalism chose me.” Prior to July of 2019 Mendez was a working-stay at home mom, contributing to Howell County News through a column called, “The Ozarks Apprentice.” When Howell County News faced the threat of closing, Mendez, alongside her husband, Ron, bought the operation. Since then, Mendez has taken on the role of bringing accurate, impactful news to the people of her community and county.
Mendez describes her role in journalism as, “doing the hard thing, telling the hard stories, and facing tensions head on.” According to Mendez, these examples of hardships are the reasoning behind the Missouri Press Association introducing the Journalist of the Year award: to spotlight journalists who are in the midst of conflict and bring to light the impacts being made.
For award consideration, applicants were nominated, from there, letters of support from community members were sent to the association. Then a portfolio of the applicants’ chosen works of impact from 2025 were submitted. Mendez’s nomination was supported by Dean Aye of the Willow Springs Community Foundation, Janet Crow, Howell County Collector, Beverly Hicks, Willow Springs City Administrator, Robert Hollis, Willow Springs Chamber of Commerce Treasurer, Frank L. Martin, III, retired publisher of the West Plains Daily Quill, Helen Sosniecki, Missouri Press Hall of Fame member, and Laura Wagner, sports editor. These supporters participated in a short documentary about Mendez’s work in 2025, screened Saturday morning at the convention in Columbia. WATCH that documentary here.
In the interview, Mendez summarized the stories submitted for consideration: coverage of the city marshal position in Willow Springs, David Spears’ employment at the West Plains Public Defender office, and the Willow Springs R-IV budget crisis. In Mendez’s opinion, her coverage of the Willow Springs R-IV budget crisis was the most impactful. She addressed the unchecked spending and budgeting of the district in her 2025 articles, and, since then, the district has made vast improvements by righting the faulty budgeting process, which was reported on by Mendez.
The award plaque reads, “for her persistence, courage, and sheer determination to seize every opportunity to do meaningful reporting.”
Seven years ago, Mendez made “the choice to invest in the community.” This prestigious award proves that she has done just that. Her investment has brought a long term impact not only to her community, but to the people in it.
At the Missouri Press Association’s 160th Convention over the weekend, Mendez and husband Ron accepted six awards in the annual statewide contest: first place recognition for Best Editorial and Opinion Pages, Best Story about Government and Best Story about Education for, “Spending Spirals: but who was watching?” Second place honors were conferred for, “Cuts are coming” in the Breaking News category, and the six-week series about the R-4 budget crisis and an accompanying editorial took third places for Best Investigative Reporting and Best Editorial. The editorial was also named to the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors’ Golden Dozen this year, for excellence in opinion writing.