“Beneath the grey sky where our bay meets the ocean, the water stretches like an unbroken sorrow, endless and unknown. Waves roll in slow, rhythmic whispers as if the ocean itself is holding its breath.”

So begins an editorial written by Declan Varley, editor of Ireland’s Galway Advertiser.

His prose reads like poetry as he describes the searchers, looking for a woman lost at sea.

Varley’s editorial was one of the Golden Dozen selected by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper editors in its annual contest with one receiving the Golden Quill.

This year, that honor went to Joey Asher, a reporter for The Highlands Current in Cold Spring in New York’s Putnam County.

“When it comes to disability etiquette, I was a lousy role model,” writes Asher, stating his brother-in-law, who struggled with schizophrenia most of his life, “scared the hell out of me with his brooding look and tendency to lecture on topics that didn’t make much sense.”

Asher goes on to recount lessons he learned at a conference — lessons we should all heed — with the takeaway: “Treat people with disabilities like people, not like people with disabilities. To do otherwise makes them feel like ‘the other.’”

Using his own life and change in attitude as an example, Asher concludes his column with how he couldn’t stop crying when his brother-in-law unexpectedly died.

“We held a memorial at his group home,” Asher writes. “We talked about his love of Britney Spears and his constant reminders to the home’s attendants, cooks and social workers to drive safely. I learned that every Christmas, he dressed up as Santa to hand out presents.

“His disability? It didn’t come up.”

Jeff Gaye, editor and publisher of “Respect” in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada was named to the Golden Dozen for his editorial on the need to enforce standards for elder care.

“Today, in Alberta, someone’s Dad will get his medication three or four hours late because the few staff on shift can’t keep up. It will affect his health …. Someone’s Mom will have to spend another entire day in bed because there aren’t enough workers on staff to get her up and dressed.”

Gaye concludes with these words: “‘Red tape,’” you say. Bring it on.

“Neglect is abuse. And the abuse of vulnerable old people is indecent and inexcusable.”

The Enterprise was also named to the Golden Dozen this year — for the 13th time — for a column by editor Melissa Hale-Spencer, “Protect all children as your own.”

“The editor finds herself in the uncomfortable position of calling out child sexual abuse that happened at her newspaper decades ago,” writes the contest’s judge, Dana Hess. “She needs to be commended for holding the newspaper to the same standard as she would anyone else caught up in a case of child sexual abuse.

“Her editorial highlights the painful history attached to abuse and its lingering effects on victims. Just as it is difficult for victims to talk about their past abuse, it must have been hard for the editor to write about her newspaper’s tainted history.”

Yes, it was hard. But our mission is to seek the truth and we need to acknowledge the truth about ourselves even when it is difficult.

One reader of our newspaper, Richard Tollner of Rensselaerville, wrote a letter to the editor in response. “Now society — that’s you, me, and every reader of your paper — knows we need to protect our children, not only from disease or poverty but from danger,” Tollner wrote.

“Abusers and predators are in all environments, schools, home, anywhere a child may live or play ….,” Tollner went on. “So I won’t congratulate you for being right, since we all need to be right, but I respect you greatly for standing up and reminding all of us.”

The international society gathered this July in South Dakota and the contest judge had been a longtime editorial writer for the Capital Journal, a daily newspaper in South Dakota’s capital, Pierre.

Hess commented that the editors gathering for the society’s annual convention were, by South Dakota standards, “a herd of unicorns.” He lamented a nationwide trend seen in South Dakota, saying the vast majority of newspapers “prefer to stand mute rather than produce any local opinions for their editorial pages.”

Hess concluded, “A newspaper that chooses to remain silent on the issues of the day loses part of its soul and much of its purpose. The 93 entries in this contest come from newspapers that are sure of their purpose and have soul to spare.”

We, at The Enterprise, have found over our many decades of writing strong editorials that they not only can lead to needed change but also, as importantly, create community dialog, which plays out on our opinion pages.

We are living now in a polarized society where it is critical — indeed essential — for citizens to engage in their democracy and express their views. We continue to check the facts in the letters we receive, and let the opinions flow.

The facts remain paramount.

There was some tension leading up to this year’s gathering in South Dakota. One Canadian journalist declined a scholarship because of fears she would not be able to safely cross the border to attend the conference and return to Canada.

This chilled us to the bone.

Other Canadians understandably expressed a pull for solidarity with their nation not to spend money in the United States as a response to both Donald Trump’s tariffs and his repeated assertions that Canada should become a 51st state.

The United States members of the international society’s board wisely wrote to members, welcoming all. “These are threatening and troubling times for journalists in the U.S. and elsewhere,” said the missive.

“In many ways, the power of journalism and its critical roles as monitor and watchdog sustain us and motivate us, wherever we are,” the message continued. “We draw upon those common struggles and challenges, and the persistence to endure, to connect with our colleagues around the world.

“To anyone else with doubts about coming to South Dakota for this year’s conference because of the culture and climate in the U.S., please know that your colleagues in the U.S. support you and your work and consider our ties to go beyond nations and politicians.”

And so it was. Canadians did, indeed, attend the conference with their sister and brother journalists.

The Eugene Cervi Award, recognizing lifetime achievement, this year went to Eric Meyer, editor and publisher of the Marion County Record in Kansas. His late father had won the award before him.

After retiring as a journalism professor at the University of Illinois, Meyer returned home to run the family’s weekly newspaper and came to national prominence after an illegal police raid of his newspaper and his home in 2023.

In nominating Meyer for the award, Sarah Kessinger, who also edits and publishes a family-owned weekly in Kansas, wrote, “I’ve greatly admired Meyer’s courage and perseverance in the face of a police raid of his office and home. Meyer’s mother and co-publisher, Joan Meyer, died from what her son described as shock after the raid of the home she and Meyer shared. The raid’s search warrant was withdrawn by the county’s prosecutor a few days after it occurred.

“Meyer never gave in during the loss, pain and attempt by local authorities to sweep their local law enforcement’s thuggish behavior under the rug. He has hung on like a bulldog and this nation can look to him as a beacon of hope at a time when the U.S. press in general faces an era of authoritative government threats.”

We need hope in these troubled times. A democracy cannot function without a free press.

We find hope in the words of editors from far and wide. We will never be looking on the shores of Ireland for a woman lost at sea. But we can feel what that is like by reflecting on Varey’s words, which also bring to mind the first responders we regularly cover here at home.

We do not have a brother-in-law who suffers from schizophrenia but we learned from Asher’s words a worthwhile attitude to put the person first that applies here — and anywhere.

We do not have a parent languishing in an Alberta nursing home but we often write about the elders in our midst and the challenges they face and we can take heart from Gaye’s resolve.

As the message to the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors said, our ties go beyond nations and politicians. That applies not just to journalists but to all human beings.