DALLAS – Aug. 20, 2018 – Nine legendary North Texas journalists will receive the industry’s prestigious lifetime excellence in journalism award recognition, dubbed “North Texas Legends,” by the Press Club of Dallas.
The 8th annual “Legends” reception and awards ceremony will be held at the historic Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, 411 Elm St., from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13.
Tickets are now on sale here, $30 for Press Club members and $35 for non-members. Admission includes food, beer, wine and soft drinks. Capacity is limited to 225.
“These nine men and women exemplify the core mission and values of the Press Club of Dallas,” said Cary Broussard, Press Club president. “They are warriors for the First Amendment, journalists who represent integrity, innovation, truth, trust and transparency. It is our privilege to honor them this fall.”
The judges are comprised of veteran Press Club members. Each winner is required to have worked in the Dallas/Ft. Worth region in the news media market for at least ten years, and currently reside in Texas. For the first time this year, awards are being given by category.
The 2018 honorees are:
Charean Williams, Print: The 25-year veteran NFL reporter was recently selected as the 2018 Dick McCann Award winner by the Professional Football Writers of America. The former Fort Worth Star-Telegram scribe is the first woman to receive the honor from the PFWA.
Shaun Rabb, Television: One of the most familiar faces in local television news during his nearly 30 years of reporting for FOX 4 in Dallas. Shaun is such a tenacious and trusted reporter that he’s had five people surrender to him who were wanted by police for violent crimes. In August of 2017, at the request of Dallas Police Homicide Detectives, Shaun began a partnership with them to shed light on unsolved violent crimes; suspects “caught on tape, but still at large.”
Sam Baker, Radio: Dallas listeners have known Sam’s distinct voice for nearly 30 years, during which time he’s served as the local host of “Morning Edition” on KERA 90.1 FM. Sam also served as the longtime host of KERA’s 13 Emmy Award-winning public affairs program On the Record and he won a 2008 Emmy for KERA’s Sharing the Power: A Voter’s Voice Special.
Jacquielynn Floyd, Opinion: The Austin native, a sixth-generation Texan, spent four decades as a working journalist, including 28 years at The Dallas Morning News. A metro columnist from 1999 until her retirement earlier this year, she earned the American Society of Newspaper Editors award for commentary/column writing in 2011, and twice won the National Headliner Award for local interest column, in 2016 and 2017. She is also a four-time winner of the first-place award for general column writing from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors.
John Sparks, Newsroom Management: The Fort Worth native worked for 45 years in news management at four network affiliates in Dallas-Fort Worth (WFAA Channel 8 (ABC), KDFW-TV Channel 4 (CBS), KXAS-TV Channel 5 (NBC), and KTVT-TV Channel 11 CBS), as well as at NBC in New York at WNBC-TV. In 1980, he produced the first local newscast in the country originating from a national political convention from the GOP National Convention in Detroit and the Democratic National Convention in New York. He repeated the same for each party’s national conventions in 1984, 1988 and 1992. In 1987, his work investigating the SMU football program was recognized with the first Peabody Award won by WFAA and a duPont-Columbia Award.
David Woo, Creative: David retired from The Dallas Morning News earlier this year after more than 40 years photographing presidents, Super Bowls, celebrities, wars, natural disasters, pets and much more. He was part of the photography staff that won a Pulitzer Prize for their 2005 coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He was also a two-time Pulitzer runner-up, in 1984 and 1986. He and fellow photojournalist Richard Pruitt have produced two books, “Texas Women” and “Top Dogs and Their Pets.”
George Getschow, Educator: The co-founder and writer-in-residence of the nationally acclaimed Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. George spent 16 years at The Wall Street Journal, where he was a reporter, editor, bureau chief and worked on the Page One Rewrite Desk. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Award for distinguished writing about the underprivileged. George served as a Pulitzer Prize jurist for General Nonfiction in 2016 and as a jurist for feature writing for two years. George was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2012 for “distinctive literary achievement.”
Mercedes Olivera, Posthumous: Mercedes authored one of the longest-running columns dedicated to Latino issues in a major metropolitan newspaper, having written for The Dallas Morning News from 1975 to 2017. She wrote about politics, culture, her family history and many other topics. Mercedes died in June.
Marty Haag, Posthumous: The former news director of WFAA-TV and Senior VP of News for Belo Corporation is one of the most legendary figures in local TV news. Haag, a winner of the George Foster Peabody Award and First Amendment Service Award, cultivated numerous reporters who went on to great success locally and nationally, including Scott Pelley, Paula Zahn, Verne Lundquist, John McCaa, Dale Hansen, Gloria Campos, Peter Van Sant, Bill Macatee, Russ Mitchell, Leeza Gibbons and Andrea Joyce. The station also won numerous duPont Awards under Marty’s leadership. He died in 2004.
The event emcee is Gloria Campos, retired longtime WFAA-TV anchor and a 2014 Press Club Legend. Scott Goldstein and Tristan Hallman, both Press Club of Dallas Board members, are co-chairs of the event. Judges were: Goldstein, Hallman, Frank Librio and Angela Madison.
Sponsorship packages are available for $250, which includes three tickets to the event, your logo or name in the official program and two memberships to the Press Club of Dallas. Tickets are available for purchase at Eventbrite and are $30 for Press Club members and $35 for non-members.
Net proceeds from the event will benefit the mission of the Press Club of Dallas, providing scholarships for students to Texas colleges and universities and supporting the operations of the Press Club.
Past winners include:
- 2017 winners: Harold Taft (posthumous); Dale Hansen; Byron Harris; John Jenkins; Yolette Garcia; Norm Hitzges; Tom Joyner; Janet St. James; Bill Mack; John Lumpkin; Mike Blackman; Bill DeOre; Jeffrey Weiss
- 2016 winners: Norma Adams-Wade, Fil Alvarado, Sandra Brown, Steve Blow, David Finfrock, Randy Galloway, Jeff Guinn, JoAnn Holt, Sylvia Komatsu, John McCaa, Bob Phillips, Mike Rhyner, David Webb
- 2015 winners: Helen Bryant Anders, B.J. Austin, Sam Blair, Becky Munoz-Diaz, Mollie Finch-Belt, Dan Jenkins, David McHam, Bob Mong, Robert Moore, George Riba, Bob Ray Sanders, Brad Sham, Clarice Tinsley
- 2014 winners: John Anders, Gloria Campos, Iola Johnson, Judy Jordan, John Miller, Scott Murray, Darwin Payne, Walter Robertson, Tracy Rowlett, Cissy Stewart and Bob Welch
- 2013 winners: Carolyn Barta, Eddie Barker, Kent Biffle, Clarence Bruyere, Alex Burton, Al Carrell, Vivian Castleberry, Ron Chapman, Mike Cochran, Bob Compton, Lee Cullum and Jimmy Darnell
- 2012 winners: Troy Dungan, Bill Evans, Jim Ewell, Dottie Griffith, John Gudiohnsen, Jim Henderson, Lana Henderson, Bert Holmes, Helen Holmes, Bob Huffaker, Suzie Humphries, Will Jarrett, Shelly Katz, Joe Laird, and Ralph Langer
- 2011 winners: Jimmy Lovell, Frank Luksa, Phil Magers, Bill Mercer, Bob Miller, Burl Osborne, Rena Pederson, Bob Porter, Bob St. John, Blackie Sherrod, Bert Shipp, Carlton Stowers, Dick Wheeler, Wes Wise, Bobbie Wygant, Tony Zoppi, Hugh Aynesworth and Karen Hughes
The Dallas Press Club is a tax exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, founded in 1948 with the mission to support journalism in all its forms. The Dallas chapter produces events to support the mission of the Press Club, including raising scholarship funds for North Texas students. The Press Club of Dallas, serving five counties in Dallas, is an evolving organization of journalists, public relations practitioners, and affiliated professionals in the North Texas region, committed to promoting the fundamental tenets of communication, journalism and First Amendment freedoms. If you would like more information on how to become a member of the Press Club of Dallas, please visit: PressClubDallas.com.
