Bob Dillard was awarded the prestigious Harold Hudson Award at the WTPA 79th annual Summer Convention in San Angelo.
Last year’s recipient, Randy Mankin, presented the award.
The award is in memory of the late Harold Hudson, publisher of the Perryton Herald and prominent member and past president of WTPA and the National Newspaper Association.
The award is given to an individual who has significantly contributed to the publishing industry and West Texas Press Association.
“Bob was one of the first publishers to offer Kathy and me his assistance when we joined this business in 1994,” said Mankin. ”And he was the very first one I called on for advice when the polygamous cult invaded our county in 2004. I figured anyone who had lived through and reported the Republic of Texas standoff could surely offer me some good advice – and he did!”
A native of Tyler, Dillard graduated from Fort Worth Eastern Hills High School in 1963 where he had worked on the school newspaper. He attended Baylor University in Waco and the University of Texas at Arlington where he again found himself as a major player in the school newspaper.
In 1976, he found a way to buy a share of the Alpine Avalanche, which he operated and coedited until 1990.
In 1982, the Dillards purchased the Big Bend Sentinel in Marfa, a paper they owned until 1992. In 1993, they acquired the Jeff Davis County News and changed the name to the Jeff Davis Mountain Dispatch.
Then in 1995 the Stanton News was purchased and its name changed to the Martin County Messenger. A year later the Greenwood Ranger published its first edition in the Midland suburb.
And, somehow in the middle of publishing five West Texas newspapers, he found the time to serve as Jeff Davis county judge, not to mention a long list of volunteer jobs.
Bob and his wife Christi have two children and seven grandchildren. |
