SPJ honors two for exceptional service to journalism

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8/13/2012

For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Lauren Rochester, SPJ Awards Coordinator, (317) 972-8000 ext. 210,
lrochester@spj.org
Christine DiGangi, SPJ Communications Coordinator, (317) 927-8000 ext. 205
cdigangi@spj.org

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to honor DeWayne Wickham and Bob Edwards as Fellows of the Society. This highest honor given by the Society is awarded for extraordinary contribution to the profession.

The Fellows will be honored at the Excellence in Journalism 2012 conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The two will each receive a jeweled key and a plaque on Sept. 22 at the President’s Installation Banquet. Click here for a list of previous honorees.

Bob Edwards
Bob Edwards, host of “The Bob Edwards Show” and “Bob Edwards Weekend” on Sirius XM Radio, will address attendees of the SPJ President’s Installation Banquet at EIJ12 when he is named a Fellow of the Society.

Before joining satellite radio, Bob Edwards hosted National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Morning Edition” for 25 years, attracting more than 13 million listeners weekly. He is also the author of three books. Edwards has won the duPont-Columbia Award for radio journalism, a George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to public radio. He serves as a National Board Member of SAG-AFTRA. In November of 2004, Edwards was inducted into the national Radio Hall of Fame.

DeWayne Wickham
DeWayne Wickham, a columnist for USA TODAY and Gannett, is one of the 44 journalists who founded the National Association of Black Journalists in 1975, and he is a past president of the organization. Wickham has covered Washington for U.S. News & World Report and Black Enterprise magazine. Wickham has been a reporter for The Sun and Evening Sun newspapers in Baltimore, an analyst for CBS News, a commentator for Black Entertainment Television and executive editor of BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Most recently, he served and the interim chairman of the department of journalism and mass communication at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, and he is now the chair of the department of communication studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

“DeWayne Wickham – columnist, author, entrepreneur, trailblazer and mentor – is one of the black community’s national treasures,” wrote Lee Ivory, a former editor of USA TODAY sports weekly, in a nomination letter compiled by Bonnie Newman Davis. “From his humble beginnings in his native Baltimore to his national platform as the only African-American columnist at USA TODAY, Wickham has amassed a body of work that goes right to the heart of understanding our nation’s many cultures, politics and trends.”

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. For more information on SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.

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