Nominations Being Accepted, 2008 McGruder Diversity Leadership Awards

The Freedom Forum, in partnership with the Associated Press Managing Editors and the American Society of Newspaper Editors, is accepting nominations for the seventh annual Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership.

Two awards are given annually: one for newspapers with a circulation up to 75,000; one for newspapers with more than 75,000 circulation.

The awards go to individuals, newsrooms or teams of journalists who embody the spirit of McGruder, a former executive editor of the Detroit Free Press and relentless diversity champion. McGruder died of cancer in April 2002.

Jurors will be looking for nominees who have made a significant contribution during a given year or over a number of years toward furthering diversity in newspaper content and in recruiting, developing and retaining journalists of color. The deadline to make a nomination is Aug. 1, 2008.

Announcement of the winners will be made at the annual APME conference, Sept. 8-11, 2008, in Las Vegas. The recognized honorees each receive $2,500 and a leadership trophy.

Who is eligible? Individuals, newsrooms or teams of journalists from U.S. daily newspapers are eligible. A nominee’s newspaper must participate in the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ annual employment census.

The awards recognize achievement for the past 12 months or contributions over a number of years.

What are the criteria? The Diversity Leadership Awards honor an individual, a newsroom or a team of journalists for significant leadership in diversity through:

Recruitment: by providing opportunities for journalists of color to learn about news careers and to enter the newspaper industry in internships and full-time jobs.

Development: by offering opportunities for journalists of color to grow in their current roles and to receive mentoring and training to advance to positions of greater authority, responsibility or expertise.

Retention: by ensuring that journalists of color want to remain in the news industry by providing an inclusive work environment that offers opportunities to contribute and advance.

Content: by reflecting a diverse community accurately and in a way that demonstrates community and industry leadership. The definition of diversity in content includes ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religious background, political bent and physical ability.

Nominations can be made by individuals, newspapers, professional organizations, schools of journalism and others.

Rules for entries: Send a letter (of no more than three pages) outlining specific information about the achievements and how they benefited the community, the industry and journalists of color. The letter should include the name of the person making the nomination and his/her signature and telephone number.

You may supplement an entry with clips, but please send no more than four. Send copies no larger than 11 by 17 inches.

Send material to: Jack Marsh, HYPERLINK “mailto:jmarsh@freedomforum.org” jmarsh@freedomforum.org, Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Deadline: Materials must be received in the Freedom Forum’s Washington office by Friday, Aug. 1, 2008.

Nominations will be judged by a committee that includes representatives of APME, ASNE, the Freedom Forum and UNITY: Journalists of Color.

Past winners of the McGruder awards

2007
Wanda Lloyd, executive editor, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser; and Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor, Detroit Free Press.

2006
Sharon Rosenhause, managing editor, Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and the Pacific Daily News on Guam

2005
Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D.; and The Honolulu (Hawaii) Advertiser

2004
Bennie Ivory, executive editor and vice president for news at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky.; and Susan Ihne, then executive editor, St. Cloud (Minn.) Times

2003
Charlotte Hall, then vice president/planning, Newsday, Long Island; and the Greeley (Colo.) Tribune

2002
Don Flores, executive vice president and editor, El Paso (Texas) Times; and Jim Strauss, publisher, Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune

FREE ONE-DAY BUSINESS JOURNALISM WORKSHOP

FREE ONE-DAY BUSINESS JOURNALISM WORKSHOP IN VERMILLION, S.D., ON OCT. 20, 2008

A FREE one-day business journalism workshop will be held in Vermillion, S.D., on Monday, Oct. 20, 2008. This workshop is open not only to business journalists, but to journalists covering other beats who wish to learn more about covering business.

The “Business Journalism Boot Camp” program covers the basics of using numbers in understanding financials, deciphering government filings, covering private companies and writing effective profiles of companies and CEOs.

This workshop is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and hosted by the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute at the Al Neuharth Media Center on the University of South Dakota campus.

Presenters are James Gentry, professor and former dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Kansas, and Jodi Schneider, Congressional Quarterly’s Training Director and former business editor of The Washington Post and Orlando Sentinel.

“More than 7,000 journalists nationwide have attended Reynolds Center workshops and understanding basic financial concepts and writing with style are skills that belong in every journalist’s portfolio,” said Andrew Leckey, director of the Reynolds Center. “We’re delighted to return to Vermillion, an outstanding location for our past presentations.”

Registration for this workshop is available at http://www.businessjournalism.org/workshops/2008/Vermillion/BootCamp1020/

AGENDA: “BUSINESS JOURNALISM BOOT CAMP” WORKSHOP

8:30 a.m. Check-in and Coffee Reception

9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introduction

9:15 a.m. Understanding the Numbers in Financial Statements
James Gentry

10:30 a.m. Case Study
Gentry

11 a.m. Understanding the Numbers in Government Filings
Gentry

12 p.m. Lunch

1:15 p.m. Covering Private Companies
Jodi Schneider

2:15 p.m. Group Exercise: Private Companies

2:45 p.m. Writing Company and Individual Profiles
Schneider

3:45 p.m. Five Practical Ideas to Take Home
Schneider

4 p.m. Adjournment