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Eli Sanders

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Eli Sanders
Born1977 or 1978 (age 46–47)[1]
Alma materColumbia College
OccupationJournalist
Known forPulitzer Prize recipient (2012)
Websiteelisanders.net

Eli Sanders is an American journalist based in Seattle, Washington and was the Associate Editor of The Stranger until September 2020.[2] He won the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing in 2012.[3] His win was the first and only Pulitzer ever awarded to The Stranger, and only the seventh time a Pulitzer had been awarded to an alternative newsweekly.[4] The Pulitzer jurors recognized Sanders for "his haunting story of a woman who survived a brutal attack that took the life of her partner, using the woman's brave courtroom testimony and the details of the crime to construct a moving narrative."[5] Sanders also hosted a weekly political podcast for The Stranger, the Blabbermouth Podcast.[6][7][8][9]

In 2016, Sanders published the book "While the City Slept." It examined the three lives that intersected in the crime described in his Pulitzer-winning article, telling the story of two women "newly in love" and their attacker, "a young man on a dangerous psychological descent."[10] The Washington Post called the book "an expertly crafted nonfiction narrative" that tells a story of love and forgiveness while also indicting "the dysfunctional nexus of the criminal justice and mental health systems in the state of Washington and, by extension, across the country."[11] Sanders' book was a finalist for the Edgar Award (Best Fact Crime) and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.[12]

In 2017, Sanders announced that he would take a temporary leave from The Stranger and work as the deputy communications director to temporary Mayor Tim Burgess. "I'm going to work inside the mayor's office for exactly ten weeks," Sanders wrote. "Then I'm coming back with a story."[13] Sanders didn't say what story he intended to write, but he was clear that he wanted everyone in the mayor's office to know "going in" that he intended to write something. When Sanders returned to The Stranger, he published an in-depth investigative narrative that told the story of the previous Seattle mayor, Ed Murray, who had resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct. "Their boss allegedly committed sexual assault and abuse," Sanders wrote. "He denied everything. They had to decide: Who do I believe? What do I do?"[14]

After he left The Stranger in 2020, Sanders published the Wild West newsletter on Substack.[15]

In the fall of 2021, Sanders began studying at the University of Washington School of Law on a Gates Public Service Law Scholarship.[16] While in law school, a lawsuit that had been spurred by Sanders' earlier reporting, State of Washington v. Meta Platforms, resulted in a nearly $25 million fine against Meta Platforms for repeated violations of a unique Washington State campaign finance law that requires transparency in online political ads.[17][18][19][20] Meta has appealed to the Washington State Court of Appeals, claiming that Washington's law is unconstitutional. In 2023, the Brennan Center, the Campaign Legal Center, Fix Democracy First, and the League of Women Voters of Washington filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that Washington's political ad transparency law should be upheld as constitutional.[21]

In May 2023, Sanders published an article in The Atlantic about community moderators on Nextdoor manipulating the platform for political gain.[22]

Sanders graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1999.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Pulitzer Prize winner Eli Sanders releases new book - Star2.com". Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  2. ^ Sanders, Eli. "Goodbye, and Please Come See Me in Your Inbox". The Stranger. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  3. ^ "Narrative gold: Eli Sanders and his Pulitzer-winning crime saga". Nieman Storyboard. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  4. ^ "Alt-Weekly Pulitzer Prize Winners: 1981-2012 | Honors & Achievements | AAN.org". archive.altweeklies.com. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  5. ^ "Eli Sanders of The Stranger, a Seattle (Wash.) weekly." Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  6. ^ Pauly, Madison. "The Horrific Attack That Led This Reporter to the Bravest Woman in Seattle". Mother Jones. Foundation for National Progress. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  7. ^ Brangham, William (April 27, 2016). "How a Seattle murderer slipped through the cracks of the mental health system". PBS NewsHour. NewsHour Productions LLC. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  8. ^ Williams, Paige. "Narrative gold: Eli Sanders and his Pulitzer-winning crime saga". Nieman Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  9. ^ Sanders, Eli. "The Bravest Woman in Seattle" (PDF). Pulitzer.org. Pulitzer.org, The Stranger. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  10. ^ "While the City Slept by Eli Sanders: 9780143109518 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  11. ^ "Opinion | When falling through cracks in the mental health system ends in violence". Washington Post. June 4, 2023. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  12. ^ "While the City Slept by Eli Sanders: 9780143109518 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  13. ^ Sanders, Eli (September 19, 2017). "I'm Going to Work Inside the Mayor's Office for Exactly Ten Weeks. Then I'm Coming Back With a Story". The Stranger. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  14. ^ Sanders, Eli. "Staffing the Accused: Inside the Six-Month-Long Downfall of Seattle Mayor Ed Murray". The Stranger. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  15. ^ Sanders, Eli (September 21, 2020). "Welcome to Wild West!". Wild West. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  16. ^ "Meet the Current Class of Gates Scholars Committed to Public Service". UW School of Law. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  17. ^ "Safeguarding Elections in the Age of Misinformation". UW School of Law. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  18. ^ "Facebook parent company repeatedly violated WA campaign finance law, court finds". The Seattle Times. September 2, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  19. ^ Denkmann, Libby; Cowan, Alec (September 13, 2022). "Washington judge finds Facebook violated campaign disclosure law". www.kuow.org. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  20. ^ "Meta fined for violating WA campaign finance laws 822 times". The Seattle Times. October 26, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  21. ^ "State of Washington v. Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly doing business as Facebook, Inc. (Amicus Brief) | Brennan Center for Justice". www.brennancenter.org. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  22. ^ Sanders, Eli (May 24, 2023). "Local Politics Was Already Messy. Then Came Nextdoor". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  23. ^ "Alumni in the News". Columbia College Today. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
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