Just 18 years ago, I was a wide-eyed seventh-grader at Phillips Middle School when I, and a small group of my classmates, spent the day following the courts and crime reporter at The Messenger for a job shadowing activity.

I don’t remember much about that day — I recall the reporter taking our hodgepodge of 12-year-olds to that morning’s magistrate court at the LEC, and I remember our group running into the group of students job shadowing at the Fort Dodge Police Department and we all got to watch an officer get tasered in order to get his certification to carry a taser, or something like that.

But, after all these years, my most vivid memory of that day was leaving The Messenger’s building at the end of the day with the determination that one day, I’d see my own name on a Messenger byline.

It took several years — and a couple out-of-state moves — but that seventh-grader’s wish finally came true in August 2019 when I joined The Messenger as a staff reporter.

It’s been a wild three-and-a-half years full of elections and community events and trials and, as if anyone could forget, a global pandemic. I wouldn’t change a single day of it.

A couple weeks ago, I received the 2023 Jay P. Wagner Prize for Young Journalists from the Iowa Newspaper Foundation. The award is named to honor the memory of Jay P. Wagner, “a lifelong Iowa newspaper reporter and editor whose passions included encouraging young reporters and promoting great community journalism,” according to the Iowa Newspaper Association.

I am honored and grateful to the Wagner family, which publishes the Sheldon Northwest Iowa Review, for this award. Though I’ve now exceeded the age to receive a “young journalist” award, I will never stop working hard to be able to say I’ve earned this award I’ve been given.

In reflecting on how I got to this point in my career, I realized that I have a few people I’d like to thank for guiding me along my journey as a journalist.

First, I thank John McBride at Fort Dodge Senior High — my first journalism teacher.

McBride taught me some important lessons during my years on the Little Dodger staff. He taught me how to ask open-ended questions and to finish with, “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”, because sometimes you forget a question — or don’t ask the right question — to get the information you need. McBride taught me to always ask the person you’re interviewing to spell their name because “John Smith” might actually be “Jon Smythe.”

Possibly the most useful lesson of all, McBride taught me that if you’re going to sneak out during Little Dodger class to go get Taco Tico, make sure you bring him a taco burger.

The next person I’d like to thank is Mark Witherspoon, affectionately known simply as “Spoon.” Spoon was the editorial adviser at the Iowa State Daily for many years, including when I was a student at Iowa State. Spoon taught me to never back down when reporting on something gets tough. He taught me that sometimes people and agencies in power are going to get upset when reporters doggedly search for the truth with the desire to inform the public. Spoon’s sage advice: “F—’em.”

Pivoting to my professors at Iowa State’s Greenlee School of Journalism, I’d like to thank them for helping me find my voice on paper. I thank Dr. Michael Bugeja for teaching me that a reporter’s work means nothing if they don’t back it up with a strong personal code of ethics. I thank Deni Chamberlin for helping me develop into a better photojournalist. Lastly, I want to thank Deb Gibson for teaching me how to write so that my voice shines through my work.

Next, I want to thank Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. Randy is an invaluable resource for Iowa’s journalists and is my go-to when I have questions about public records laws or need advice on how to approach a sensitive or complicated story. Randy has been a mentor and a sounding board for countless Iowa journalists over the years.

My penultimate expression of gratitude goes to my editor, Bill Shea. Bill has the distinct misfortune to be the first person to read my stories before they print. Sometimes my brain works faster than my hands can type and it’s his keen eye that catches those mistakes and, occasionally, accidental omissions.

Most of all, I’d like to thank you, our readers. You are the reason I do this.

I believe I have several duties as a journalist — to inform the public, to act as a government watchdog, to author the “first rough draft of history” and to tell the story of Fort Dodge, Webster County and the surrounding communities. And I believe I wield that responsibility well.

From covering routine school board and county government meetings, to uncovering a settlement made by a county to settle a lawsuit with a woman who was wrongly arrested and jailed for an attempted murder she couldn’t have been involved with, to visiting neighbors helping clean up rural homes devastated by tornadoes, to documenting a pair of long-lost siblings reuniting after six decades apart. No matter the topic I’m writing about, my focus is always on my readers and those affected by the subject.

So thank you, Messenger readers, for seeing the value in local journalism and reading our publication. Remember that, without us — local newspapers — these stories would not get told.

Whether you live in The Messenger’s circulation region or elsewhere, please subscribe to your local newspaper.

Kelby Wingert is a staff writer for The Messenger.