- Staff writer
- Office phone: 757-446-2504
- Email: denise.batts@pilotonline.com
Denise Watson Batts is a member of the Enterprise team and covers higher education.
She's been a staffer for The Virginian-Pilot for 18 years, and spent a year at The St. Petersburg Times in Florida. She's written about the famous--James Farmer--and the infamous--John and Lorena Bobbitt--but prefers stories of everyday life and people. She wrote the award-winning, six-part series, "When the Wall Came Tumbling Down," a story of Massive Resistance, through the eyes of families who dismantled segregation in Norfolk during the 1950s. With education, she enjoys writing features about the personalities in the halls of local colleges and universities, and giving parents and students the news they need to make informed choices about college.
She's won regional and national honors for feature writing, including first place awards with the Virginia Press Association, The American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and was a finalist for the prestigious Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards.
Batts is a 1990 graduate of Norfolk State University and grew up in Norfolk. She is married with two children.
