Barbara Walsh has worked for newspapers in Ireland, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Florida. While working at the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, Walsh reported on first-degree killer William Horton Jr. and Massachusetts’ flawed prison furlough system. The series changed state sentencing laws and won a Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting in 1988.

During her career at the Portland Press Herald in Maine, Walsh wrote in-depth series on families living in poverty, teen suicide, domestic violence and the lack of mental health care for children.

Walsh has also won a James K. Batten Award for Excellence in Civic Journalism in 1999, a Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma in 1999, a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2001, an Anna Quindlen Award for Excellence in Journalism on Behalf of Children and Families in 2003, and the Yankee Quill Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism in New England in 2007.

Selected Work:

The Maine Monitor

The crushing toll of a pandemic in Maine’s ‘forgotten county’

During a tragic winter that saw four suicides and prolonged isolation, Baileyville Police Chief Bob Fitzsimmons has served as a guardian, confidant and friend to the people in northeastern Washington County.

The Maine Monitor

The Last Responders: Consoling the dying and grieving in the COVID-19 era

The coronavirus pandemic’s last responders – Maine’s priests, chaplains, funeral directors and hospice workers − say the highly infectious virus has upended how they do their jobs. Barred from entering most hospitals and long-term living facilities, chaplains and priests must offer comfort, consolation and prayers electronically. Families are robbed of a final goodbye, and those who are dying of COVID − or any other illness in a confined setting – must die with strangers while longing for the touch of a loved one.

The Maine Monitor

Maine’s governor born for hard times, and hard decisions

From dealing with a debilitating spinal condition as a teen, to gender bias as an adult and a pandemic as Maine’s leader, Janet Mills proves she can rise above her critics – even the president.

The Maine Monitor

Born to Drugs: Maine’s most innocent victims

Nearly 5,000 babies have been born affected by drugs in Maine in the past five years. These innocent victims are caught in a crisis that is marked by suffering and strained hospitals and state resources.

Pine Tree Watch

A New Normal

A reflection on the ways in which the coronavirus has altered daily life

Maine Sunday Telegram

Reporting Compelling Stories About Ordinary Teens

‘Pretend you’re an archeologist or an alien recording their world.’

Portland Press Herald

Mental Illness: Reporting on Maine’s Most Vulnerable Children

Doctors and social workers said she’d ‘never be able to tell the story.’ She did.

Portland Press Herald

Documenting the Experiences of Military Families

‘… as I set out to tell this story, I soon discovered that the voices of military children were all but invisible.’

Portland Press Herald

A Stolen Soul

A sensitive and thorough portrayal of Yong Jones’ struggle to bring her son’s murderer to justice against the backdrop of her cultural beliefs.