NAMME Awards Banquet

NAMME's Diversity Awards

Sue Clark-Johnson, President, Newspaper Division, Gannett Co. Inc., and Marcellus W. Alexander, Executive Vice President, Television, National Association of Broadcasters, will serve as co-chairs of NAMME's Annual "Celebration of Diversity" Awards Dinner. The event will be held Thursday evening, March 29th at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC, during the ASNE Convention.

Tickets to the Awards Dinner are $350 individual; $3500 for a Table of 10. Payment is tax deductible less $100 per ticket. The tax ID # is 54-1639072. Please make checks payable to NAMME Foundation. VISA, MasterCard and American Express are accepted. To purchase tickets, contact Nancy Osborn via e-mail, nosborn@namme.org, or by phone 703-854-7179.

Each year the event pays tribute to the achievements and contributions of media professionals whose professional life and work have served to advance diversity in the media world. The 2007 honorees include:

The Robert C. Maynard Legend Award

Ed Bradley (1941-2006), 60 Minutes Correspondent, CBS News

Ed Bradley joined “60 Minutes" in the early 1980's after serving two years as White House correspondent for CBS News and three years at "CBS Reports." He was the first African American at CBS to be a White House correspondent and a Sunday night anchor. During his 39-year career, he covered a broad range of stories, from war and politics to music and is noted for his insightful, poignant interviews with such notarati as singer Lena Horne, boxer Muhammad Ali and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Over the years his outstanding journalism earned him numerous awards, among them a Peabody Award, 20 Emmys and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, including NABJ's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Distinguished Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement

Felix Gutierrez, Former Senior Vice President, The Freedom Forum and Newseum

An educator, administrator and former senior vice president of the Freedom Forum and Newseum, Dr. Gutierrez has been a pioneer in advancing diversity in journalism education, employment and coverage. He was the first executive director of the California Chicano News Media Association from 1978-80. During his tenure with the Freedom Forum, he oversaw the Chips Quinn Scholars program for diversity in journalism and helped conceive and create the Freedom Forum's Diversity Institute in Nashville. He has mentored aspiring journalists of all races while working at California State College/Los Angeles, Stanford University, Cal State University/Northridge and the University of Southern California and in 2002, he was inducted into NAHJ's Hall of Fame.

Catalyst: Print

Amol Sharma, Staff Reporter, Technology, The Wall Street Journal

This prolific reporter uncovers breaking news surrounding the wireless and telecommunications industry and provides insight into the Indian community within the US as well as the emerging role of India in the global marketplace.

Catalyst: Broadcast

Curtis Crutchfield, News Director CTV 76 News

As News Director of a local cable television daily news program, Curtis Crutchfield has produced numerous award-winning programs and developed award-winning talent of many different races and ethnicities. Known for launching careers that find success in larger markets, Crutchfield’s commitment to diversity is grounded in the understanding that quality programming comes from a newsroom that is diverse both in perspectives and experiences.

Catalyst: New Media

Retha Hill, Chief Editorial Officer, BET.com and Vice President, Content Development, BET Interactive

As Chief Editorial Officer for BET.com, Hill’s keen insight into the content needs, interests and issues of African Americans have led BET.com to the most valued African American Community Site and highest-trafficked African American site on the Internet. With ground-breaking online news projects on such issues as the Black Family, black wealth, coverage of drug issues and a yearlong poll of African Americans on a wide range of issues from education aspirations to rap music, Hill also has positioned this destination site to win numerous awards for civic journalism. Hill is an adjunct professor of journalism at the graduate school at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Lawrence Young Breakthrough Award

Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Students, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Technology Reporter, WNBC-TV

Sree Sreenivasan is a leading technology expert and WNBC-TV's tech reporter. He is also Dean of Students at Columbia University's journalism school, where he runs the new media program. He is co-founder of SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, a group of 1,000+ journalists across the US and Canada and was founding administrator of the Online Journalism Awards, the world's biggest new media contest. In March 2004, Newsweek magazine named him one of the 20 most influential South Asians in the nation.

Award of Valor

Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H., Contributing Medical Editor KTVT, CBS 11

Unlike other doctors-turned-journalist, Dr. Khanna is a journalist-turned doctor who set her path of public service through medical journalism. Her commitment to using broadcast journalism as a vehicle to reach and improve people’s health has earned numerous honors, including an Emmy Award. Dr. Khanna is also an emergency humanitarian worker who triaged and transported patients at the New Orleans International Airport following Hurricane Katrina, staffed the medical clinics at Alaska Airlines 261 crash after September 11 and spent 5 weeks in Banda Aceh, Indonesia treating the victims of last December’s tsunami. Dr. Khanna continues to practice medicine and is an adjunct associate professor of the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center.

The award categories are:

Robert C. Maynard Legend Award: This award is given to a person with a commitment to quality journalism and to the advancement of people of color in the media in particular, as demonstrated by the life of the late Robert C. Maynard, for whom this award is named. Further, awardees mush have a distinguished, lifetime career in journalism and/or education and be someone whose life story serves as a role model for all who would follow in his or her footsteps.

Distinguished Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement: This award is given to a person who has made outstanding contributions to media diversity and whose lifelong work has had a substantive impact on valuing and advancing workplace diversity in the media business.

Catalyst Awards for Print, Broadcast and New Media: These awards recognize and encourage the contributions of individuals whose actions and leadership have served as a catalyst to advance the cause of diversity in the media industry.

Lawrence Young Breakthrough Award: This award is given to an individual who transforms the paradigm of diversity in the media. The award is named in honor of the late Lawrence Young, a newspaper editor and board member of NAMME. Young's personal mission was to help shape the next generation of media industry leaders and inspire them to continue his efforts to advance diversity and quality journalism.

Awards of Valor: The Awards of Valor recognize media professionals at all levels that have gone above and beyond the call of duty, exhibiting courageous behavior under extreme circumstances in order to serve the public good.

• Courageous reporting: individuals who led the way in providing truth and clarity in disseminating news and information under deplorable conditions and/or in total disregard for personal safety.
• Courageous leadership: individuals who seized leadership and/or exhibited "Herculean" feats whether in news coverage or community efforts.
• Courageous humanitarian deeds: individuals or organizations whose generosity in time, dollars and/or effort has served to help those most affected by tragedy.

The slate of awardees should reflect NAMME’s diversity. We encourage you to nominate deserving candidates from broadcast, magazines, and new media in addition to newspapers.