The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced its 2024 Special Honors recipients. Awards will be presented during the #NABJ24 Convention & Career Fair in Chicago, July 31 – Aug. 4, 2024.
2024 Special Honors Awards
NABJ will honor the following journalists and communicators for their groundbreaking accomplishments and work to support the Black community in the media.
Angelo B. Henderson Community Service Award — Tenikka Smith Hughes
- This award recognizes a Black journalist who has had a positive impact on the Black community outside the normal realm of journalism. Hughes is a 20-year news veteran and three-time Emmy Award-winning evening anchor at Action News Jax. She is the founder of Tenikka’s Books for Kids, an annual book drive helping to prevent the “summer slide,” where kids lose two to three months of what they learned in school.
Best Practices Award — Staff of Capital B
- This award recognizes a news organization for exemplary work in covering issues of great significance to the Black community or the African Diaspora and/or for its efforts in increasing diversity among its newsroom staff and management. Capital B, launched in 2022, is an award-winning nonprofit news organization that centers Black voices, producing in-depth journalism on topics of crucial importance to Black people across the country. It was co-founded by Lauren Williams, former Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Vox, and Akoto Ofori-Atta, former Managing Editor at The Trace.
Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award — Michelle V. Agins
- This award recognizes a journalist with 15 or more years in the industry, who has made an extraordinary contribution to the enrichment, understanding or advancement of Black life and culture. Agins is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who is the second Black woman ever hired (in 1989) as a staff photographer at The New York Times. She began her career in the 1970s in her hometown of Chicago as a photography intern for The Chicago Daily News, moving on to become a sports photographer there.
Ida B. Wells Award — Damaso Reyes
- This award recognizes an individual who has provided distinguished leadership in increasing access and opportunities for Black journalists and improving the coverage of communities of color in American media. Reyes is Executive and Investigative Editor at the New York Amsterdam News and the founding Editor of its Blacklight Investigative Unit. A journalist since 1996, he is a Fulbright specialist and Poynter Media Transformation Challenge fellow.
Journalism Educator of the Year Award — Dr. Ava Thompson Greenwell
- This award recognizes the service, commitment, and academic guidance of an outstanding journalism teacher, professor or educator. The candidate must teach or advise students within the field of journalism at a high school or an accredited four-year college or university, and must have helped to increase the number of Black journalists in newsrooms. Greenwell has taught broadcast reporting and producing classes at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University since 1993. During her 35-year NABJ membership, she has overseen more than 100 workshops and served as the 2017 NABJ Convention Program Chair.
Journalist of Distinction Award — Gary Lee
- This award recognizes a Black journalist in broadcast markets 1-16 and print/digital circulation under 150,000, who has distinguished themselves with a body of work, a story, series or photographs published in print, digital or aired that was extraordinary in depth, scope or significance to people in the African Diaspora. Lee previously served as a staff writer for TIME magazine and a correspondent for The Washington Post. He was deputy chief of TIME’s Bureau in Germany and chief of the Washington Post Bureau in Moscow. In 2021, he was named Managing Editor of the award-winning Oklahoma Eagle, one of the oldest U.S. Black newspapers.
Journalist of the Year Award — Louder Than A Riot, Hosted by Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden
- This award recognizes a Black journalist who has distinguished themselves with a body of work, a story, series or photographs published or aired that was extraordinary in depth, scope or significance to people in the African Diaspora. Louder Than A Riot has traced the collision of rhyme and punishment across two seasons, using the cultural lens of Hip-Hop to expose how mass incarceration and misogynoir impact Black America. From highlighting Hip-Hop’s missed opportunity for a ‘me too.’ reckoning to unearthing the racist roots of criminalizing rap lyrics. Louder has been cited for its outstanding cultural reporting by The New York Times, Essence and TIME.
Legacy Award — Roy Lewis
- This award recognizes a Black print, broadcast, digital or photojournalist of extraordinary accomplishment who has broken barriers and blazed trails. Honorees have contributed to the understanding or advancement of people and issues in the African Diaspora. Lewis is a renowned photographer and activist whose photography career started in 1964 when JET Magazine published his photograph of musician Thelonious Monk. His work has been celebrated nationwide, including in the “Everywhere Exhibition,” beginning in 2008 at the Essence Music Festival.
Michael J. Feeney Emerging Journalist of the Year Award — Corey Antonio Rose
- This award recognizes a Black journalist with five or fewer years of experience in the industry and displays a commitment to NABJ’s goal of outstanding achievement by Black journalists and providing balanced coverage of the Black community and society at large. Rose is a producer for NPR’s “It’s Been A Minute,” where his work explores the intersections of public health, policy and culture. His work has been featured in/on NPR, Netflix, Into Magazine, KQED, PBS. He is a Vice-Chair for NABJ LGBTQ+ Task Force.
Patricia “Pat” L. Tobin Media Professional Award — Kimberley and David Rudd
- This award recognizes an entrepreneur, public relations/advertising/marketing professional, or media owner that serves as a trailblazer in the media realm and is responsible for a positive impact of Black coverage and the media profession. The Rudds co-own Rudd Resources, a full-service, award-winning public relations agency that handles public affairs, community engagement and storytelling for philanthropic, nonprofit, government, and corporate clients. Since 2014, the agency’s work has advanced people, communities, and ideas while centering equity.
Student Journalist of the Year Award — Domonique Tolliver
- This award recognizes a Black full-time collegiate journalist who has excelled within the field of journalism through a story, body of work, series or photograph(s) published or aired. The student can be in print, broadcast, digital, radio, photography, or magazine and must display a strong commitment to NABJ and academics. Tolliver is a recent graduate of Loyola University New Orleans, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication with a concentration in Journalism. She is a national Murrow award-winning journalist, specializing in culture reporting and search engine optimization. Tolliver proudly served as the President of Loyola’s NABJ chapter and interned with Shop TODAY at NBCUniversal.
Percy Qoboza Foreign Journalist of the Year Award — Roberson Alphonse
- This award recognizes a foreign journalist who has done extraordinary work while overcoming tremendous obstacles that contribute to the enrichment, understanding, or advancement of people or issues in the African Diaspora. Alphonse, one of Haiti’s most respected investigative journalists, is not only a fearless journalist but a brave soul. He survived a shooting attack in 2022 that left him wounded in both arms on his way to work at a Port-au-Prince radio station. Now a University of Michigan Knight-Wallace Fellow, he boldly continues to heal and continues his work as the News Editor for Le Nouvelliste and Information Director at Magik9.
Professional Chapter of the Year Award Finalists — NABJ-South Florida, New York Association of Black Journalists and NABJ-St. Louis
- This award recognizes an NABJ professional affiliate chapter for its accomplishments, the number of scholarships awarded, new members added, and community activities and programs held. The winner will be announced during the Convention.
- NABJ-South Florida — For nearly four decades, NABJ-South Florida has united journalists, media professionals, and students who seek diversity and excellence within the industry.
- New York Association of Black Journalists — Founded in 1976, NYABJ upholds a legacy of providing professional and moral support to its members. The organization encourages and supports the achievement of Black media professionals.
- NABJ-St. Louis — For more than four decades, NABJ-St. Louis has advocated for Black working journalists and communications professionals, as well as invested in educating future media professionals.
The following awards will be announced during the Convention:
- President’s Award — Awarded by the NABJ President to recognize exemplary service or support of the organization.
- Student Chapter of the Year Award — Awarded to an NABJ student chapter for its accomplishments, and the number of new members who joined the chapter and its campus and community activities and programs.
- Thumbs-down Award — This award calls attention to an individual or organization for especially insensitive, racist or stereotypical reporting, commentary, photography, or cartoons about the Black community or for engaging in practices at odds with the goals of the National Association of Black Journalists.
