At its best, journalism doesn’t just ask questions, it answers them.

And after the attempted assassination of then-candidate President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds on July 13, there was one huge question: How could this have happened?

The Butler Eagle was one of many news organizations to try and tackle that question, producing dozens of stories in the months after the attack. On Wednesday, May 28, one of those stories was recognized with a Golden Quill Award, conferred by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.

The article, titled “Secret Service flaws enabled Trump assassination attempt,” was written through a collaboration that included former staff writer Irina Bucur, assignment editor Tracy Leturgey and community editor Eddie Trizzino, as well as journalists at SpotlightPA and ProPublica.

It came to the conclusion that the events of July 13 were the result of systemic problems regarding how candidate security was being handled. It was the result of weeks of work, including by a reporter who was at the event and witnessed what happened firsthand.

Awards like the Golden Quill are a chance to recognize and highlight the impact of the stories journalists produce every day.

— JK