The Lexington Herald-Leader’s Bill Estep is the winner of this year’s most esteemed Kentucky Press Association award.
Estep, 65, who retired this summer after 40 years with the news organization, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian. It’s given by the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism.
The award is named for the late Albert P. Smith, Jr., who helped create the Institute for Rural Journalism and was a former newspaper publisher before becoming the founding producer and longtime host of KET’s “Comment on Kentucky.” It award recognizes Kentucky journalists whose work has spurred consequential change in rural parts of the state…