Press group honors longtime journalists
Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Arkansas Press Association on Friday honored four longtime journalists for their service in the business for more than 50 years and named former Gov. Mike Huckabee as its headliner of the year.
At its annual convention, the trade group also named Bruce Plopper of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as its journalism educator of the year and Becky Schultz of Parkers Chapel High School at El Dorado as its Newspapers in Education teacher of the year.
Michele Page of the Helena Daily World won the group’s Freedom of Information Award, and the Distinguished Service Award went to Roy Reed, whose career took him from the Joplin [Mo. ] Globe to the Arkansas Gazette to The New York Times.
Winning the press association’s Golden 50 Award for five decades or more in journalism were: Christine Fisher, owner of The Johnson County Graphic in Clarksville. She started her newspaper career as a bookkeeper at the Yell County Record in Danville in 1951. Louis Graves, who founded the Nashville Leader in 2003 after a long career at the Nashville News and other papers in southwest Arkansas. Graves began writing for the News as a high school sophomore.
Robert Shaw, who retired from The Associated Press last year after nearly 42 years with the news cooperative in Arkansas and elsewhere. Shaw began writing in high school and worked for the Arkansas Gazette before joining The Associated Press. Van Tyson, a co-publisher of the Atkins Chronicle. Tyson was editor and manager of the paper in the 1950 s before working at the Des Moines Tribune and teaching at Wayne State in Nebraska. He repurchased the Chronicle in 1992.
Also Friday, Roy Ockert Jr. of The Jonesboro Sun took over as president of the Arkansas Press Association, replacing Bill Hager of the Van Buren Press Argus-Courier. Barney White of The Ashley News Observer in Crossett was elected vice president and Britt Talent of the Cleveland County Herald in Rison was elected second vice president.
New to the board are Mary Fisher of the Yell County Record and Rusty Fraser of the Stone County Leader in Mountain View.
Continuing on the board are Don Bona of The Daily Record in Little Rock, Frank Fellone of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, George Jinks of the Daily Siftings Herald in Arkadelphia, Bob Moore of the Carroll County News in Berryville, Melody Moorehouse of The Sheridan Headlight and Betty Barker Smith of the Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home.
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