Rick Hirsch is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who worked 42 years as a reporter and editor at the Miami Herald, the last 12 as its managing editor.
After retiring from that role at the end of 2021, Hirsch became senior editor for talent development with the McClatchy Company, overseeing recruiting for 30 newsrooms across the United States, as well as a Journalist in Residence at Florida International University.
In August, 2024, Hirsch became the first director of the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability, a $25,000 annual award for investigative reporting on state-related institutions in the United States, given out each year at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The Collier Prize, part of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, also holds a quarterly competition and stages an annual symposium on accountability reporting.
As managing editor at the Herald, Hirsch was responsible for day-to-day oversight of The Herald’s digital and print news content. He played a key role in the news organization’s shift into digital news and video, as well as the launch of its collaboration with WLRN-91.3 FM. He also supervised newsroom training and recruiting.
Hirsch played a key role in seven of the Herald’s 23 Pulitzer Prizes, including the Gold Medal for Public Service and the 2022 Pulitzer for breaking news coverage of the Surfside condominium collapse.
As a reporter, he specialized in government, politics and urban affairs reporting.
Hd is past president of the Florida Society of News Editors, a board member of Campus Communication Inc., the nonprofit that oversees the Independent Florida Alligator, past chair of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism Advisory Council, and a member of the University of Florida College of Journalism Hall of Fame. He’s an organizer of South Florida’s Online News Association group.
