Ace political reporter Bill Shipp going into Ga. Writers Hall of Fame

After an internship at the Constitution, Shipp took on segregationists in 1953 as managing editor at the University of Georgia's student newspaper, The Red & Black. After graduation he enlisted.

Upon completion of his military service, he came back to the Constitution and worked for years on the state desk.

He became an investigative reporter where "he analyzed state prisoner rehabilitation services, reported on Voting Rights Act clashes in Sumter County, and wrote an award-winning series on racketeering and corruption in the Atlanta police force," his biography reads.

After a short stint at Newsday, Shipp returned to the Constitution and soon after was named state political editor. He broke the news that then-lame-duck governor Jimmy Carter was running for president.

"By the time he left the Constitution in May 1987, Shipp was arguably the state’s most recognizable political gadfly," his biography reads.

In August of that year, he started Bill Shipp's Georgia, a must-have news source for politicos.

Over the years Shipp also published two books, "The Ape-Slayer and Other Snapshots" and "Murder at Broad River Bridge."

Monday's induction ceremony will be at Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries in Athens.

Shipp's fellow inductees are:

• James Alan McPherson

• Roy Blount Jr.

• Brainard Cheney

• Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin