TWT Idol winner Nate Madden scores internship at the newspaper

Nate Madden, a recent graduate of The Citadel military college, was selected Saturday as the winner of The Washington Times Idol competition and won a summer internship at the paper.

Mr. Madden competed against nine other students who interviewed Republican Congressmen Steve King of Iowa and former Ohio Democratic Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday and were judged by a panel of Washington Times journalists.

“We saw some great reporting occur on stage thanks to all of these great young journalists. But our panel of esteemed judges, led by our own chief political correspondent Ralph Hallow, unanimously agreed that one contestant stood out for his probing, persistent and fast-moving interrogation of Congressman Kucinich,” said Washington Times President and CEO Larry Beasley during the CPAC closing remarks.

Mr. Beasley commended the young reporters for their efforts to shape the future of journalism and for contributing to the educational emphasis of this year’s conference.

“In many ways CPAC went back to it roots in special ways in 2015. The emphasis on learning and activism was palpable in every corner of this great complex the last few days. And I am confident that we all will be leaving here better trained, better informed and more inspired to go back home and fight to change our country’s direction,” Mr. Beasley said.

Mr. Madden is a native of Anderson South Carolina where he helped raise goats on his family’s farm.

He majored in political science and German at the Citadel where he worked as a politics and opinion editor of The Brigadier newspaper. He also contributed as a freelance reporter to The Pathos and The Center for a Just Society and spent time working as a lay preacher and agriculture researcher in rural Uganda.