Federation to honor outstanding journalists, community leaders and media pioneers
The Pittsburgh Black Media Federation is pleased to announce the winners of this year's Robert L. Vann Awards for coverage of African Americans in western Pennsylvania. Winning entries were published or broadcasted between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2007. Award recipients will be recognized during PBMF's annual awards reception 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8, at the Foerster Student Services Center, Community College of Allegheny County, Allegheny Campus, 808 Ridge Ave. Special awards also will be given to the organization's Communicators of the Year and to individuals honored as Legends in Journalism.
Admission to the event is $10 per person. Proceeds from the awards competition and reception help fund scholarships for graduates of PBMF's Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop for high school students. For more information, contact Carmen Lee at 412-338-2628.
The winners are as follows:
Special Awards
2007 Communicator of the Year
Stephen B. Thomas
Center for Minority Health
University of Pittsburgh
2007 Communicator of the Year
Paradise Gray
Community Outreach
2007 Legend in Journalism
Jean Bryant, Print Pioneer
2007 Legend in Journalism
Regis Bobonis Sr., Broadcast Pioneer
2007 Legend in Journalism
Christopher Moore, WQED-TV
2007 Robert L. Vann Journalism Award winners
Column
First Place Column
Mike Seate, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“It’s Not All Black and White”
Second Place Column
Robert Hill, Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“No asterisks”
Honorable Mention Column
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Jackie Robinson Role Model”
Honorable Mention Column
Dan Simpson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Dealing with Darfur”
Honorable Mention Column
Bill Steigerwald, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Let’s Do Justice to the Hill”
Public Affairs
Public Affairs
Jennifer Bails, Pitt Magazine
“Sanctuary”
Editorial
First Place Editorial
Christine O’Toole, Pittsburgh Magazine
“Mission Minorities”
Second Place Editorial
Dan Simpson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Spotlight on Pittsburgh”
Honorable Mention Editorial
Christine O’Toole, Pittsburgh Magazine
“Whiz Kid”
News Feature/Magazines
First Place News Feature/Magazines
Christine O’Toole h magazine
“One on One”
Second Place News Feature/Magazines
Geoffrey W. Melada, Pittsburgh Magazine
“Lawyers Guilty of Doing Good”
Honorable Mention News Feature/Magazines
Geoffrey W. Melada, Pittsburgh Magazine
“Generation to Generation”
Honorable Mention News Feature/Magazines
Bill Modoono, Pittsburgh Magazine
“Iron Mike”
Honorable Mention News Feature/Magazines
Michelle Pilecki, h magazine
“Dream Makers”
Business Feature/Magazines
Business Feature/Magazines
Elaine Vitone, Pitt Magazine
“Smart Drive”
Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Series
First Place Series/Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Ervin Dyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Invisible Men”
Second Place Series/Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Mike Tomlin, a man of his words”
Honorable Mention Series/Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Torsten Ove, Cindi Lash, Michael Fuoco, Karen Kane, Jim McKinnon
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Five Small Children Die in Fire”
Sports Feature
First Place Sports Feature/Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Pitt Gold Medalist Ran Against Racism”
Second Place Sports Feature/Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“A Man Grace”
News Feature
First Place News Feature/ Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Chris Togneri, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Knowledge, spirit share classroom time”
Second Place News Feature/ Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Timothy Puko, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Who will put up the Dukes?”
Honorable Mention News Feature/ Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Craig Smith, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Legacy of Honor, Tuskegee Airmen”
Feature Story
First Place Feature Story/Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Nate Guidry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Stairway to Heavenly Music”
Second Place Feature Story/Newspapers with circulation over 100,000
Ervin Dyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The Bus Stops Here”
Spot News
Spot News Story
Jill King Greenwood and Kim Lyons, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Deadly Child’s Play”
Business Feature Business Feature
Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“A Hard Lesson”
Business News Story
Business News Story
Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“North Side Shop Owner Struggles to Build Base”
Newspapers with circulation under 100,000
Series
First Place Series/Newspapers with circulation under 100,000
Hassan Wilcox, Morgan Kelly, Patricia Lomando White, Bruce Steele, Pitt Chronicle
“Black History Month Series”
Second Place Series/Newspapers with circulation under 100,000
John Harvith, Jason Togyer, Pitt Chronicle
“Pitt, Carnegie Mellon Honor Tutu”
Sports Feature
Sports Feature/Newspapers with circulation under 100,000
Larissa Theodore, Beaver County times
“He’s Got Game”
News Feature
First Place News Feature/Newspaper with circulation under 100,000
Bruce Steele, Pitt Chronicle
“John Woodruff Dies at 92”
Second Place News Feature/Newspaper with circulation under 100,000
Larissa Theodore, Beaver County Times
“Rochester Student Laid to Rest”
Feature Story
First Place Feature Story/Newspaper with circulation under 100,000
Larissa Theodore, Beaver County Times
“God called, Brown answered”
Second Place Feature Story/Newspaper with circulation under 100,000
Nikki Coffee, New Pittsburgh Courier
“Return to Buxton”
Photography
Feature photo
First Place Feature photo
Rebecca Droke, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Improvising!”
Second Place Feature Photo
Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Hakeem Muhammed, 4, among women”
Honorable Mention Feature Photo
Steve Mellon, h magazine
“One on One”
Honorable Mention Feature photo
Darrell Sapp, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Checkmate”
Honorable Mention Feature photo
Bob Donaldson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Bill Cosby with Terrier”
Honorable Mention Feature Photo
Cami Mesa, Pitt Med Magazine
"A Most Unwelcome Visitor"
News Photo
News Photo
J. Monroe Butler II, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Desperately Trying to Communicate”
Sports Photo
First Place Sports Photo
Peter Diana, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Hines Ward in the Mud”
Second Place Sports Photo
Matt Freed, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Pitt Standout Darrelle Revis”
Honorable Mention Sports Photo
Annie O’Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Pitt Women’s Coach Agnus Berenato and her team”
Art Illustration
First Place Art Illustration
Dan Marsula, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Stevie Wonder”
Second Place Art Illustration
Stacy Innerst, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The Human Factor”
Television
News Feature
News Feature/Television
Ross Guidotti and Ian Smith, KDKA-TV
“Teenager Funeral”
Feature Story
First Place Feature Story/Television
Dave Crawley and Dave Forstate, KDKA-TV
“Freedom House”
Second Place Feature Story/Television
Ken Rice and Olga George, KDKA-TV
“Willie Thrower”
Business News
Business News/Television
Jon Delano, KDKA-TV
“Don Barden's Finances”
Spot News
Spot News/Broadcast
Mary Robb Jackson, KDKA-TV
“Larimer Tragedy”
Investigative
Investigative/Television
Andy Sheehan, KDKA-TV
“School Desegregation”
Music/Soundtrack
Honorable Mention Music/ Soundtrack
Emmai Alaquiva, WQED Multimedia
Dream Factory: the Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop
For nearly 30 years, the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation has taught young African Americans to dream.
We now call it the Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop. Named for an African American pioneer who broke ground in journalism as a reporter and editor at the Pittsburgh Courier, it is an inspired experience.
Students come to us and we give them first-hand practice in how to write, produce and edit the news. In the process, they learn to work through their fears, stand tall in front of their peers and to believe in themselves. It's the power of good mentorship.
In our shop, working journalists serve as instructors and give substance and credibility to the program and create an environment that makes "mentoring" relationships possible.
When they're done, our "graduates" pack up their dreams and then soar.
One, Sonya Toler, has served as news editor of the local black newspaper last year.
Another, Sharon Epperson, is a national television business reporter.
There are more. There is Keith Alexander, a business reporter at The Washington Post; David Garth, a sports copy editor at the Post-Gazette; and dozens of others alumni of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation's Urban Journalism Workshop.
Chris Moore, a talk show host for WQED-TV, KDKA Radio and American Urban Radio Networks, helped found the Urban Journalism Workshop 20 years ago. He's the real daddy of the program, the one whom many of the students over the years ran to first with their personal problems as well as their professional accomplishments.
As mentors spend long days and nights helping them organize stories and edit audio or videotapes. We drill into them the slogan "You can and you will," introduced by Edwina Kaikai, Post-Gazette assistant managing editor for special projects, when they became frustrated and wanted to give up.
As the students grew, the workshop did, too. It began as a program that met for seven consecutive Saturdays and attracted just local high school youngsters. In those years, when the cold and snow lingered past the appropriate season, some students would take two buses to get to Community College of Allegheny County's Homewood campus.
Later, the workshop became a weeklong summer residential program and started to draw students from as far away as California, Georgia and New Jersey. It had been housed on the campuses of Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon universities before settling in at Point Park University.
As the years passed, students began to come back while on summer breaks from college. They'd encourage the workshop youngsters to hang in there and share their achievements, such as becoming editor of the college paper or landing an internship.
For more information on this program, please visit the Urban Journalism Workshop page.
PITTSBURGH BLACK MEDIA FEDERATION TO HOST AN HIV/AIDS FORUM
The Pittsburgh Black Media Federation will host "HIV 101," a forum to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Black community, on Saturday, October 21, 2006.
While Black Americans are only 13 percent of the nation's population, they are more than half of all reported HIV infections in the United States. The forum, geared towards media professionals, will share the facts and figures and discuss information on prevention, treatment and compassion. Health experts and social service providers will lead discussions and hold a question-and-answer session.
Grace Kizzie, an HIV researcher and prevention specialist and Sabira Bushra, a worker with the Minority Partnership Against HIV/AIDS will both present during the forum.
The free session is an opportunity for media professionals to share about HIV's affect on the African American community in Pittsburgh. It also will allow members of the media to meet and dialogue with potential sources, gather first-hand knowledge and credible information about HIV/AIDS and cultivate story ideas.
The forum will take place from 9 am to noon at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 34 Blvd of the Allies, Downtown on Sat., Oct. 21. Advanced registration is required. Please call 412-263-1410, or email president@pbmfonline.org to register.
PBMF is an affiliate of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). 
