The ''Evansville Courier & Press'' is a daily newspaper based in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. It serves about 30,000 daily and 50,000 Sunday readers.

History

The ''Evansville Courier'' was founded in 1845 by William Newton, a young attorney. Its first issue was printed two years before the city had a charter. The ''Evansville Press'' was founded in 1906 by

Edward W. Scripps Edward Willis Scripps (June 18, 1854 – March 12, 1926), was an American newspaper publisher and, together with his sister Ellen Browning Scripps, founder of The E. W. Scripps Company, a diversified media conglomerate, and United Press new ...

as an afternoon daily. Both papers were separate and fierce competitors until 1937, when the ''Evansville Press'' was flooded and the ''Evansville Courier'' agreed to print their competitor's paper. In 1938, the two papers formed a

joint operating agreement The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 was an Act of the United States Congress, signed by President Richard Nixon, authorizing the formation of joint operating agreements among competing newspaper operations within the same media market area. It ...

to handle business affairs. The two papers retained separate staffs and editorial policies, but published a joint Sunday edition with two editorial pages from the two papers. The

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

sold the ''Press'' and bought the ''Courier'' in 1986. The joint Sunday edition was replaced by a Sunday edition of the ''Courier.'' The two newspapers continued to publish separate editions until the ''Evansville Press'' was discontinued as a separate newspaper on December 31, 1998. The ''Courier'' was renamed the ''Courier & Press''. In 2015, the newspaper was purchased by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Blue Ribbon The blue ribbon is a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Cordon Bleu, which referred to the blue ribbon ...

Daily Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

" by the

Hoosier State Press Association Hoosier is the official demonym for the people of the U.S. state of Indiana. The origin of the term remains a matter of debate, but "Hoosier" was in general use by the 1840s, having been popularized by Richmond resident John Finley's 1833 poem "T ...

. The newspaper was a finalist for the same award in 2009 and 2010. In 2005, the ''Courier & Press'' photography staff won the

Pictures of the Year International Pictures of the Year International (POYi) is a professional development program for visual journalists run on a non-profit basis by the Missouri School of Journalism's Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. POYi began as an annual competition f ...

"Best Use of Photography" Award for papers with circulation under 100,000. In 2010, staff photographer Denny Simmons was named the Indiana News Photographers Association (INPA) Photographer of the Year. In 2019, staff photographer Sam Owens was named the Indiana News Photographers Association (INPA) Photographer of the Year. The newspaper is known for its dedication to community service and commitment to education. As part of the newspaper's 150th anniversary, it planted 150 trees on the

University of Southern Indiana The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...

campus. In recent years, the Courier & Press has introduced several new community recognition events. They include the ''20 Under 40'' award for emerging community leaders and ''Star Students,'' which salutes 90 outstanding high school juniors in southwest Indiana, west-central Kentucky and southeastern Illinois.

Notable contributors

Karl Kae Knecht Karl Kae Knecht (December 4, 1883 – July 28, 1972) was an American artist who was the cartoonist for the ''Evansville Courier'' (now ''Courier & Press'') from 1906 to 1960 and was instrumental in the founding of Evansville's Mesker Park Zoo. H ...

, cartoonist and photographer *

Edward J. Meeman Edward John Meeman (October 2, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was an American journalist and editor. Biography Meeman was born in Evansville, Indiana.Ed FrankEdward John Meeman Tennessee Encyclopedia. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I, a ...

, began his journalism career at the ''Evansville Press'' as a $4 a week cub reporter; later edited the ''

Memphis Press-Scimitar The ''Memphis Press-Scimitar'' was an afternoon newspaper based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Created from a merger in 1926 between the ''Memphis Press'' and the ''Memphis News-Scimitar'', the new ...

'' and encouraged environmental reporting

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evansville Courier and Press Newspapers of Southwestern Indiana Newspapers published in Indiana Gannett publications Mass media in Evansville, Indiana Daily newspapers published in the United States Publications established in 1845 1845 establishments in Indiana