In the community

Enterprise publisher selected to guide new fellowship

VALE – The publisher and editor of the Malheur Enterpriser has been selected to mentor reporters working under a fellowship program created by Oregon Humanities.

Les Zaitz, formerly senior investigative reporter for the Oregonian, will join Kimberly A.C. Wilson and Inara Verzemnieks in the fellowship program funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Pulitzer Prizes.

The aim of the fellowship is to select three young Oregon journalists to tell unique Oregon stories.

The stories will be published through the Oregon Humanities media platform.

A $5,000 stipend will be awarded to the three journalists chosen for the mentorship program.

Zaitz was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2007 and 2013 and five-time winner of Oregon’s Bruce Baer award, the state’s top investigative reporting award.

Wilson, director of communications at Meyer Memorial Trust, has had her work recognized for the Pulitzer Prize three times.

She is a former reporter for The Oregonian.

Verzemnieks, an assistant professor for the University of Iowa’s nonfiction writing program, was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for feature writing.

She also once worked for The Oregonian.