photo by: Kirk McKoy / Los Angles Times

Kevin Merida

The executive editor of the Los Angeles Times has been selected to receive the University of Kansas’ highest journalism award at a public ceremony in Lawrence this spring.

Kevin Merida is scheduled to accept the William Allen White Foundation National Citation Award on April 20 and to give a public presentation on the KU campus at 3 p.m. that day.

Merida, who has been executive editor of the L.A. Times since June 2021, has had a long career with major media organizations, including with The Washington Post and ESPN. With the Post, Merida served as a managing editor and helped lead the newspaper to four Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure.

At ESPN he was editor-in-chief of the Undefeated, a multimedia platform that explored the intersection of race, sports and culture.

In his current role, Merida oversees the largest newsroom in the western United States, and during his brief tenure the L.A. Times has won a Pulitzer and added more than 100,000 new digital subscribers.

“Mr. Merida has made an impact, literally, from coast to coast in the United States. His record of achievements in media range from Pulitzer Prizes to Journalist of the Year from the National Association of Black Journalists to a Peabody Award to the launch of a multimedia platform that explores the intersections of race, sports and culture,” said Ann Brill, dean of journalism at KU.

Merida’s April 20 presentation, in the ballroom of the Kansas Union, will be free and open to the public.