Gerald Jordan and KCABJ President Benita Y. Williams

Past presidents and founding members of the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists returned to the organization in November to help celebrate KCABJ's 20th anniversary.

They were among about 120 people who attended the 10th Annual KCABJ Media Awards Ceremony at a Nov. 17 banquet that also marked the organization's 20th year. The past KCABJ presidents included Roxanne Johnson, who was the first president of KCABJ, Christi Gipson-Diggs who served as president during the mid-1990s, and Lewis Diuguid, who was president from 1986-87.

Eleven of the 12 graduates of the Summer 2001 KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Workshop attended the banquet with their parents, family members and friends. KCABJ founding members in attendance were Gerald Jordan, Ceaser Williams, Johnson and Diuguid.

Jordan gave the keynote address, praising Kansas City Star Religion Editor Helen Gray, Laura R. Hockaday, retired society editor at The Star, and Kansas City Call Publisher Lucile Bluford for making him feel welcome when he began working at The Star in 1971. Jordan worked as a sports reporter at The Star, and was the first black editorial board member and the only black TV critic at the newspaper. He was a Nieman Fellow and later worked as an editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer before serving the last 61/2 years as a professor of journalism at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Jordan praised Donald "Casey" Jones and George Burg, now-deceased Kansas City Star editors, for being among his best teachers. He also praised Vernon Jarrett, a former reporter at The Call and columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, for critiquing his writing and prodding him to be better.

Jordan recalled that Jarrett, now a columnist with the Chicago Defender, told him: "Kids see you as a role model. We are connected from generation to generation.''

Jarrett, a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, gave the keynote speech at the regional NABJ convention when it was in Kansas City in the mid-1990s. Jordan told the student graduates of the 2001 KCABJ workshop that veteran journalists are "crabby'' and "set in our ways,'' but that's because they must teach aspiring journalists the ropes.

"We have so much work to do to connect to that generation that is coming up after us,'' Jordan said. ``We have so much work to do to connect to our readers.''

Part of the disconnect existing between the older generation of journalists and the new one involves small things. Jordan cited two examples: The new generation is largely unfamiliar with such terms as "clockwise'' because many grew up with digital clocks. Some also have never seen vinyl records. They have only bought music on compact discs.

Some also are unaware of how few people of color are working in newsrooms in the United States and why it is important for more to work in this industry to help ensure that all of the stories about minorities make the news. Jordan explained that the number has grown from 4 percent in 1978 to about 11 percent today.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors had set a goal in 1978 to have the percentage of minorities in professional newsroom jobs equal the percentage of minorities in the population by the year 2000. But that year came and went without the goal being achieved. The objective now is to achieve parity in 2025.

Jordan said he thought that even with 24 years to go that goal looks unattainable because the minority portion of the population is growing faster than before, and this year the percentage of journalists of color fell for the first time in 23 years of record keeping.

But Jordan said that makes student workshops such as the one operated for nearly 20 years by KCABJ essential to getting more journalists of color into the profession. Jordan told the students that journalism is a fun profession. He urged KCABJ members to continue to hold the annual workshops.

"The reward is worth the struggle,'' Jordan said. ``What we're talking about is an investment in the future.''

During the banquet at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center KCABJ President Benita Y. Williams announced that the 2000-2001 recipient of the KCABJ Thumbs Down Award is the Republican Ideas Political Committee. It created TV ads about Education Savings Accounts. The ads, which ran during the 2000 presidential election, demeaned diversity in public schools. The ads and the Republican Ideas Political Committee were widely denounced by Republicans and Democrats nationwide.

The KCABJ Thumbs Down Award annually goes to a Kansas City area media personality or company for setting back the image of African Americans or other people of color in Greater Kansas City. This award is balanced against the honors KCABJ annually gives to area journalists and the media for enterprise reporting, photography, art, commentary, advertising and new media about people of color. The Executive Board of the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists takes great care in naming the Thumbs Down recipient, requiring specific documentation. It was among a record number from the print, broadcast and advertising media that the public submitted to the KCABJ Executive Board for review for the 2000-2001 KCABJ Thumbs Down Award.

KCABJ Vice President/Broadcast Natalie Moultrie and KCABJ Treasurer Lewis Diuguid announced the winners of KCABJ scholarships that went to four graduates of the organization's summer workshop at Rockhurst University. The recipients were among the 12 students who completed the intensive two-week program in print, broadcast and convergence journalism.

The KCABJ Roy Wilkins Scholarship has been awarded annually since 1987. It is named for the former editor of The Kansas City Call, who also served as head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The winner of the 2001 KCABJ Roy Wilkins Scholarship is Janae' Franklin. She receives $2,000 in savings bonds for college. Franklin is a freshman at Lee's Summit High School and she was the youngest student this year in the KCABJ workshop.

The KCABJ-Kansas City Star-Laura R. Hockaday Scholarship went to Jamie G. Sturgis, a senior at Durant High School in Durant, Miss. Sturgis was unable to attend the program. Hockaday, who retired in 2000, was the longtime society editor of The Kansas City Star. Hockaday has received numerous awards for making her work inclusive of racial, ethnic and gender diversity. Sturgis received $1,000 for college from The Kansas City Star.

Hockaday attended the dinner and brought with her veteran journalist, author and educator John DeMott, who was one of Jordan's professors at Northwestern University. DeMott urged editors at The Star to hire Jordan because of the young reporter's talent. After his years at Northwestern, DeMott taught KCABJ member Stan Austin at Memphis State University.

The third award is the KCABJ Nancy Diuguid Scholarship. It is annually funded by KCABJ Treasurer Lewis Diuguid and named for his mother, who died in 1994. She had longed to be a journalist, but such career options were mostly closed to young black women in the 1950s. The winner is Rachael Soto, a junior at North Kansas City High School. Soto received a $500 savings bond for college.

The fourth award was a general KCABJ Scholarship. It went to Dion K. Williams, a freshman at Longview Community College. Williams received a $500 savings bond for college. Each scholarship award was based on the students' performance during the workshop.

KCABJ President Benita Williams gave the KCABJ President's Award to KMBC-TV/Channel 9 news anchor Natalie Moultrie for doing the most to further the interests of the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists. Moultrie did a lot to enhance the radio and television segment of the summer program and added convergence to the workshop.

Other 2001 KCABJ Media Awards recipients: