Bette Swenson Orsini

Bette Swenson Orsini (December 2, 1925 – March 26, 2011) was an American journalist for the St. Petersburg Times. In 1980, she won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting with Charles Stafford for an investigation of the Church of Scientology.

Biography Orsini was born on December 2, 1925, in St. Petersburg, Florida. After attending both St. Petersburg High School and St. Petersburg Junior College, she attended the University of Florida, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. Afterwards, Orsini worked for the St. Petersburg Times, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and the Richmond News Leader. Orsini spent forty-one years working at the St. Petersburg Times, beginning in 1946. That year, she placed second in a national contest for the "best-looking newspaperwoman". Orsini was also a body double for Lizabeth Scott in Dead Reckoning (1947). She was also a marathon waterskier. By 1963, she was the education reporter for the paper. For her reporting, Orsini received the American Political Science Association Public Affairs Reporting award (1967) and a National Headliners Award (1970).