Ed Wilkinson is receiving the Al O’Hagan Community Leadership Award. Wilkinson has been the editor of The Tablet, Brooklyn’s diocesan newspaper, since June of 1985. He recently completed his 48th year as a member of The Tablet staff.

Born and raised in Greenpoint, he went to St. Alphonsus School and Cathedral Prep Seminary in Brooklyn; Cathedral College in Douglaston, and studied theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary.

He joined The Tablet in September, 1970, as a reporter. For 11 years, he wrote a weekly sports column and then served as News Editor from 1981 to 1985.

He has won numerous awards in the Catholic Press Association’s annual newspaper contest, including Best News Story, Best Headline Writing, Best Photograph, Best Editorial Writing and Best Youth Coverage.

This spring, the Catholic Media Convention honored The Tablet as its Newspaper of the Year, that is, the nation’s top diocesan newspaper.

His column, The Editor’s Space, has appeared weekly in The Tablet, and he also can be seen on Currents, the daily Catholic news show on NET-TV, when he conducts a weekly interview with Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.

In May, 2018, the Diocese of Brooklyn honored him with its St. Francis de Sales Distinguished Communicator Award at its observance of World Communications Day.

He was also the Chief Brehon of the Great Irish Fair of New York in 2000.

He and his wife, Sheila, and their 21-year-old son, Edward Daniel, live in Our Lady of Angels parish, Bay Ridge.