Marilyn Hagerty, the 86-year-old newspaper columnist whose review of the opening of an Olive Garden in Grand Forks, North Dakota, became an ironic global sensation in March, has won the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence, for lifetime achievement.
A typical line from her review: "My first visit to Olive Garden was during midafternoon, so I could be sure to get in."
Neuharth is the founder of USA Today, and Hagerty was his first editor—65 years ago.
Hagerty got the award for being "a model journalist dedicated to serving local communities through consistently fair, truthful and relevant coverage."