Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation

The Otis W. Sullivant Award, which includes a $20,000 cash prize, was established by Edith Kinney Gaylord just before her death early in 2001 to honor a University of Oklahoma faculty or staff member, or student. She said the honor should go to someone who personifies the following characteristics:

A person who manifests intuitiveness, instant comprehensive,

empathy, is observant, and interprets from experience.

Edith Gaylord said each of these is a quality and characteristic that Otis Sullivant possessed.

For more than 40 years Otis W. Sullivant was a political writer and “observer” for The Oklahoman. He was born November 24, 1902, on a farm near Norman, Oklahoma, that his father homesteaded in the Run of 1889.

Sullivant attended schools in Norman and graduated from Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee. He began his journalism career in the summer of 1923 working part-time on the Oklahoma News while attending the University of Oklahoma. He left the university his senior year to take a job as a reporter on the Fort Worth Press in Texas.

In 1927 he joined The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and was soon offered the state capital beat. He jumped at the opportunity and until his retirement from The Oklahoman in 1968, Sullivant became an outstanding political reporter.

In reporting politics, Sullivant told his readers not only what was happening but why. He took pride in knowing as much about upcoming legislation including its purpose and background as did the legislative leaders.

Through the years Sullivant’s perception, knowledge, reporting skill and his integrity became examples other journalists sought to emulate.

During his career he covered 13 Oklahoma governors and was a friend and advisor to several. Five governors sought to hire Sullivant as press secretary or in some other capacity. He rejected each offer.

A few governors disliked Sullivant, especially when the tide was going against them, but all of them he covered respected him for his honesty, dedication to his profession, knowledge of government, and insights into politics.

Sullivant made friends with most of the legislators he covered winning their confidence and respect with his familiar but gentle growl. He gave lawmakers full credit for their accomplishments, but he did not hesitate to report on the bad as well as the good.

During his career Sullivant also covered ten presidential campaigns in Oklahoma and represented The Oklahoman at 15 national conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties. He also reported on ten campaigns for governor, ten U.S. Senate races, and countless races for U.S. Congress, state and legislative offices.

Just before his retirement, both Oklahoma legislative houses passed a concurrent resolution praising him for having set a high standard for his fellow newsmen to follow.

The lawmakers added that Sullivant’s “integrity matches his reporting skill and his achievement and dedication to the purpose and goal are commendable traits.”

When Sullivant retired a competitor said it was his ambition to be cussed at in one day by as many politicians as Sullivant had been.

Otis W. Sullivant was 72 when he died at his Oklahoma City home on December 9, 1974. (Otis Sullivant Biography by David Dary)