All-American Presidential Forums on PBS" Moderated by Tavis Smiley

REPUBLICAN FORUM JOURNALISTS

Cynthia Tucker
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist whose work appears in more than 50 newspapers across the U.S. She is also a frequent television commentator.

In her twice-weekly column, Tucker has taken on topics as varied as voting rights, immigration reform, the importance of education and the war on drugs. In her capacity as editorial page editor, she's responsible for guiding the development of the newspaper's opinion policies on national and international affairs, as well as state and local issues.

Tucker has reported from Africa, Central America and Cuba. She previously worked as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, as a reporter and an editorial writer for The Atlanta Journal and as associate editorial page editor at The AJC.

She has won numerous awards and honors, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award, the University of Alabama's Clarence Cason Writing Award and Colby College's Elijah Lovejoy Award. In 1993, she received the Exceptional Merit Media Award from The National Women's Political Caucus, which recognizes outstanding coverage of women and politics.

In 2006, the National Association of Black Journalists selected Tucker as its Journalist of the Year, and she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in both 2004 and 2006. In 2000, she won the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Distinguished Writing Award, also for commentary. She's a four-time Cox Newspapers award winner in column-writing.

Tucker was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize "for her courageous, clear-headed columns that evince a strong sense of morality and persuasive knowledge of the community." Her commentary topics included voting rights, racial stereotypes and African American leaders.

She graduated from Auburn University and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

Tucker is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the National Association of Minority Media Executives, National Association of Black Journalists, Atlanta Press Club and the Council on Foreign Relations. She serves on the Advisory Council of the International Media Women's Foundation, which aims to strengthen the role of women in the news media around the world, and the Advisory Board of the Poynter Institute, which teaches aspiring media leaders.