Former Sun staff writer and magazine editor Keri Blakinger ’14 was named a 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in feature writing for her piece “When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row” — a portrait of men on death row in Texas. As someone who has served prison time in the past over a 2010 drug charge, Blakinger explained that her lived experience strengthens her incarceration coverage. Texas death row limits how often reporters can talk to inmates, Blakinger explained. Many death row inmates feared the impact being named in the story would have on their cases. Blakinger’s story does not just focus on the harsh conditions inmates face on death row.
