Sue Carlton

Sue Carlton has been a voice in Tampa for nearly four decades as a reporter, columnist and editor with the Tampa Bay Times.

From a family that put down roots in Florida generations ago, Sue was raised in Miami and got her degree from the University of South Florida, where she was editor of the USF Oracle.

She was hired at the then-St. Petersburg Times in 1987 and covered crime, courts, and government with an emphasis on breaking news, accountability, source-building and storytelling. She was Tampa City Editor and deputy features editor and spent 15 years as a metro columnist, writing about Tampa’s people, politics and explosive growth. Sue has won state and national journalism awards, including being named Florida’s top columnist in 2012 by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and winning first place for consumer reporting in the 2021 Green Eyeshade awards.

Sue is an enthusiastic urban hiker and fan of Florida’s parks, trails and beaches, and volunteered for a decade with Anna Maria Turtle Watch. She lives in an old bungalow near downtown with her husband John Hill and their dog Finnegan, a very good boy.