Tom Hallman, Jr., 45, has worked at The Oregonian for 19 years. He was born and raised in Portland. He graduated with a degree in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

He worked as a copy editor in New York City for Hearst Magazines, and as a reporter for the Hermiston Herald in Hermiston, OR, and the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, WA, before joining The Oregonian in 1980. He was assigned the police beat and was there for a decade, longer than any reporter since the 1950s.

While covering cops, Hallman began writing feature stories. At first they were off the beat, but over time he cast a wider net and began telling the stories of the everyday people. Hallman, now a senior reporter at the paper, now specializes in feature stories.

He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in beat reporting in 1995 and feature writing in 1999. He won the 1996 ASNE Distinguished Writing Award for non-deadline writing, and the 1996 feature writing award from the National Society of Professional Journalists, and the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.