U.S.
Stars and Stripes reporter wins top award for military journalism
Stars and Stripes
September 16, 2024
Cailin Foster participates in basic cadet training at the Air Force Academy in 2017. Foster and her family were the driving force of a Stars and Stripes story that won an award in the 2024 journalism contest conducted by Military Reporters & Editors, a nonprofit organization focused on military journalism. (Provided by Colleen Foster)
WASHINGTON — Veteran Stars and Stripes reporter Rose L. Thayer won a top award from a leading organization for journalists covering the military, national security and defense for her story about a multigenerational Air Force Academy family suffering at the crossroads of two military crises — sexual assault and suicide.
Thayer’s story headlined “They ‘broke her’: Family files wrongful death claim against Air Force, alleging academy failed to follow sex assault, suicide policies” earned an enterprise reporting award in the 2024 journalism contest conducted by Military Reporters & Editors, a nonprofit organization.
Stars and Stripes reporter Rose L. Thayer (Provided by Rose L. Thayer)
Stars and Stripes veteran reporter Rose L. Thayer reports outside Fort Hood. (Provided by Rose L. Thayer)
“Journalists from 19 news organizations are being honored for their excellent work. The contest received the largest number of submissions in recent years, making it highly competitive,” according to MRE’s announcement of winners released Sept. 13.
Thayer is based in Austin, Texas, and she has been covering the western region of the continental U.S. for Stars and Stripes since 2018. Before that, she was a reporter for Killeen Daily Herald and a freelance journalist for publications including The Alcalde, Texas Highways and the Austin American-Statesman.
Her previous awards while reporting for Stars and Stripes include a 2021 Society of Professional Journalists Washington Dateline Award and an Honorable Mention from MRE for her coverage of crime at Fort Hood, now Fort Cavazos