CINCINNATI – Libby Averyt, an award-winning newspaper journalist and a 17-year veteran of the Caller-Times in Corpus Christi, Texas, has been named editor of the newspaper, effective July 1.Averyt, 39, has been managing editor of the Caller-Times since 2000. She succeeds Deborah Fisher, who left as the newspaper’s editor to become an assistant managing editor at The Tennessean in Nashville. The Caller-Times is owned and operated by The E. W. Scripps Company.As managing editor, Averyt oversaw the Caller-Times news-gathering operations, managed newsroom finances and led the newspaper’s editorial staff of 75. She also has helped coordinate editorial partnerships with KRIS-TV and KKTX-AM radio. Her list of journalistic honors includes the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Edward Willis Scripps Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment. Under her direction, the Caller-Times was judged the best mid-sized daily in a six-state region in the Dallas Press Club’s 2002 annual journalistic excellence awards competition. It was the 10th time in 14 years that the Caller-Times had won the award.“Libby was a star reporter, a demanding and successful city editor and a voracious learner and diligent recruiter as managing editor,” said Alan M. Horton, senior vice president/newspapers for Scripps. “She loves Corpus Christi, has deep ties to the community and is well respected by the Caller-Times staff. Her leadership will help make a good paper even better. She will be judged, as all editors are, by the quality of the newspaper she and her coworkers produce and by the connections to all facets of the community she and her team establishes. I expect her tenure as editor to be a great success.” Averyt joined the Caller-Times in 1986 as a reporter after graduating from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Over the years, she has served at the Caller-Times as projects coordinator, assistant metro editor and metro editor.“Libby’s selection firmly compliments Scripps’ commitment to developing its newspaper communities,” said Larry L. Rose, president and publisher of the Caller-Times. “We’ve all benefited as Libby has grown her career from passionate reporter to passionate editor, hiring and developing others and placing the Caller-Times among industry leaders in newsroom diversity.”Averyt is a 1999 graduate of the Scripps Leadership Institute. She also has completed the Zenger Miller Frontline Leadership training program and has participated in the William Randolph Hearst Visiting Fellow in Residency Program at the University of Texas.Her community involvement includes having served as a board member for the Corpus Christi Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. She currently is a street representative for the Historic Morningside Neighborhood Preservation Society.“After living in Corpus Christi 17 years, I am eager to lead a talented and diverse newsroom that wants to reflect the struggles, joys, challenges and successes of our community,” Averyt said. “We not only want to inform and entertain our readers, but as editor I want to lead the staff in inspiring this community as well.”Celebrating its 125th anniversary, The E.W. Scripps Company is a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television, national television networks, interactive media and television-retailing. Scripps operates 21 daily newspapers, 10 broadcast TV stations, four cable and satellite television programming services and a home shopping network. All of the company’s media businesses provide content and advertising services via the Internet.Scripps Networks brands include Home & Garden Television, Food Network, DIY — Do It Yourself Network and Fine Living. Home & Garden and Food Network each can be seen in about 80 million U.S. television households. Scripps Networks Web sites include FoodNetwork.com, hgtv.com, DIYnetwork.com and fineliving.com. Scripps Networks programming can be seen in 33 countries. The company’s home shopping subsidiary, Shop At Home Network, markets a growing range of consumer goods directly to television viewers and visitors to the Shop At Home Web site, shopathometv.com. Shop At Home reaches about 49 million full-time equivalent U.S. households.