David Plazas, Opinion and Engagement Director for Tennessean

David Plazas is the Opinion and Engagement Director for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He writes award-winning columns, edits guest essays and leads opinion strategy for The Tennessean in Nashville, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis and The News Sentinel in Knoxville. He works closely with opinion editors across the national USA TODAY Network.

He has received several accolades over the years including the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award and Bronze Medallion for editorial writing, the Tennessee Press Association first-place awards for editorials and public service, and a National Headliner Award for editorial writing. He served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in 2023 and 2024, and he contributed an essay to the book, “Reinventing Journalism to Strengthen Democracy,” focusing on his statewide work with The Tennessean’s Civility Tennessee campaign. He also co-moderated the premiere Nashville Mayoral Debates four-part series at Belmont University and American Baptist College in partnership with News Channel 5 and the League of Women Voters of Nashville.

Plazas writes two opinion newsletters weekly (Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices) and hosts the Tennessee Voices video podcast, which has produced more than 420 episodes of conversations with leaders, thinkers and doers since 2020, and he delivered a TEDx Talk on having “adult” conversations in 2020.

He co-leads The Tennessean’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force, which engendered the Online News Association Online Journalism Award-winning Black and Latino Tennessee Voices initiative, newsletters and live storytelling events. The DEI task force also organizes conversations  for newsroom journalists to ensure we are reflecting the community in our work. He is a board member for the Tennessee Press Association and a lifetime member of both NLGJA LGBTQ+ Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, in which served as a student project mentor and leader for a decade.

A Chicago native, Plazas holds a B.A. in political science and Spanish and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University, and an MBA with a marketing concentration from Florida Gulf Coast University. He previously worked as a reporter, Spanish-language editor, community conversations editor and digital engagement editor for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida.

He and his family – spouse and dogs – moved to Nashville in 2014.