John Railey, the editorial page editor for the Winston-Salem Journal, won second place in the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association for his columns on North Carolina's eugenics program.

"John Railey is nothing if not persistent," the judges wrote. "He has been writing about forced sterilization in North Carolina for a decade. His investigations brought to light the terrible wrongs committed in the past, and his ongoing writing keeps the matter in the public eye while lawmakers talk big but do little to compensate victims of the state's abuse."

Railey was among a team of journalists whose 2002 series "Against Their Will" led to an official state apology to victims and a legislative effort to compensate them. He began writing editorials in 2004 and became the Journal's editorial page editor in 2010.

Top honor among newspapers above 50,000 circulation went to Linda Campbell, editorial writer and columnist of the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, for writing about collusion between elected officials and winners of contracts for delinquent tax collection. For under 50,000 circulation, top honor went Executive Editor Scott Morris and staff writer Robert Palmer of the TimesDaily in Florence, Ala., for editorials and columns on a new immigration law in Alabama.

The other second-place winner was Steve Stewart, publisher of The Tidewater News of Franklin, Va. The winners were announced at an awards ceremony Monday in Naples, Fla. The prize is named for the late Benjamin Carmage Walls, whose newspaper career spanned 70 years.

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Journal's John Railey wins award for editorial writing