The co-founders of Asheville Watchdog received the 2024 Circle of Excellence award Wednesday from Leadership Asheville Forum for their contributions to local journalism since its birth as a free, non-profit investigative news site in 2020.
Watchdog Publisher Bob Gremillion, Investigative Reporter Sally Kestin, and Executive Editor Peter Lewis accepted the award at Leadership Asheville Forum’s Critical Issues luncheon for “outstanding and dedicated service to the community.”
In presenting the award, forum board member Joe McGuire, who nominated The Watchdog for the accolade, praised the impact of its investigative journalism, noting the work had led to indictments, legislative action, and other positive changes in the community.
McGuire cited The Watchdog’s series of revelations about problems in patient care at Mission Hospital since its sale to HCA Healthcare in 2019 and its 2023 12-part series, Down Town, which focused on crime, homelessness, and other problems plaguing downtown Asheville. He also praised Kestin’s Equity Erased series, which documented how Buncombe homeowners lost years and in some cases generations of equity to Asheville real estate investors.
The Watchdog is run by volunteer veteran journalists and media executives. Gremillion is the former executive vice president of the Tribune Publishing Company, where he oversaw The Baltimore Sun,The Hartford Courant, The Orlando Sentinel, and other newspapers. He was publisher of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Kestin was a reporter at The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Tampa Tribune, and The South Florida Sun Sentinel, where she won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. She was a 2006 Pulitzer Prize finalist in investigative reporting.
Lewis is a former senior writer, editor, and columnist for The New York Times, managing editor of The Bay Citizen in San Francisco and a senior editor at Fortune magazine. He was a John S. Knight Fellow and Hearst Visiting Professional in Residence at Stanford University, where he taught journalism.
“We started Asheville Watchdog four years ago with the idea that everyone in the community deserves high quality local focused journalism, regardless of their ability to pay,” Lewis said in accepting a plaque and a $500 donation to The Watchdog. “Thank you for the validation that we’re receiving today.”
Each year, Leadership Asheville Forum bestows a Circle of Excellence award, recognizing an outstanding leader who has demonstrated leadership and impact in addressing critical needs of the community.
“It would be hard to imagine anyone who has done more for this community so selflessly and with such care and consideration,” Forum President Nancy Waldrop said to Gremillion, Kestin, and Lewis.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Keith Campbell is the managing editor of The Watchdog. Email kcampbell@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/donate.
