Last spring, Marilyn Hagerty became a Internet sensation because of her earnest, positive review of the Olive Garden restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She was a breath of fresh air in an environment too often full of snarky criticism.
Then, last fall, Ms. Hagerty was named the winner of a significant national journalism honor, the 2012 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media. The news was announced at a press conference on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, S.D. Spokesperson Jonathan Thompson noted that Hagerty was Al Neuharth’s first editor 65 years ago at The Volante, the USD campus paper. Neuharth, now 88, went on to found USA Today. (See this NPR article.)
And today? Ms. Hagerty’s regular column continues in the Grand Forks Herald where she reported most recently on a local Norwegian-American Christmas service.
Click here to see an interview with Ms. Hagerty after her Olive Garden review went viral.
