Erica Palan is the kind of editor who works even when she isn’t intending to.
While scrolling on Facebook one day, Erica spotted a post from a Philadelphia woman who wrote about her experience trying to help friends who had been suddenly detained by immigration agents.
That serendipitous event turned into the third-most-viewed piece on Inquirer.com so far this year.
With her feel and instinct for content that our audience wants to read, Erica reached out and asked the woman if we could run the piece. She then undertook the painstaking due diligence to elevate a Facebook post to an op-ed.
She fact-checked. She cut. A lot. She removed every unverified statement and made sure the result read seamlessly.
The op-ed was posted on July 18. It gained almost 500,000 views and had an engagement time of four minutes and nineteen seconds.
It was a success in every way. Erica had worked her magic – again – both as an editor and a social media pro.
The Vigoda Award 