"Till Death Do Us Part"
2015 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service

Doug Pardue was the lead reporter on a four-member team at The Post & Courier in Charleston, South Carolina that won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service, the Pulitzer's top award, for a 5-part investigative series titled "Till Death Do Us Part." The series examined why South Carolina was one of the ten deadliest states for women at the hands of men for 17 years, the entire time national records had been kept. 

During four of those years, the state ranked number one, the deadliest in the nation. The story stunned the state's lawmakers, prompting major improvements of state laws to better protect victims of domestic violence and punish perpetrators. 

Before joining the Post and Courier in 2003 as its first investigations editor, Pardue worked for USA Today, where he created that newspaper's first investigative reporting team. Prior to joining USA Today Pardue started and ran the first investigative reporting teams at the Tampa Tribune and The State in Columbia, South Carolina. Prior to that, he was a law enforcement & investigative reporter for The Roanoke Times & World-News where he and a small team of reporters were the 1990 Pulitzer Prize finalists in general news for their coverage of the year-long Pittston Coal strike.

Artemis Journal evolved from writing workshops for abused women in 1977. Each year 20% of journal sales are donated to a Women's Shelter for Abused Women in Southwest Virginia.

Podcast host - Jeri Rogers, Editor Artemis Journal
Co-produced with Skip Brown, Final Track Studios
Festival-in-the-Park