NABJ Honors shades Magazine with The Ray Taliaferro Entrepreneurial Spirit Award

The Digital Magazine Exemplifies Journalistic Entrepreneurship

Washington, DC (July 26, 2011) --The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announces that shades Magazine – Celebrating All Women of Color, will receive the organization's Ray Taliaferro Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. The honor will be presented at the Association's 36th Annual Convention and Career Fair in Philadelphia, PA, the nation's largest annual gathering of minority journalists. 

shades Magazine, an Oakland, California start-up digital magazine business, focuses on celebrating women of color. The small two person enterprise, started in March of 2010, is principally run by CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig and Chief Finance Director (CFO) and Photo Director Z’ma Wyatt.

Editor-in-Chief Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig says, "Our mission is to produce coverage that promotes intellectual enhancement, spiritual enlightenment and cultural enrichment.  We do this via our website and monthly digital magazine, covering and highlighting underserved groups within these various ethnic communities around the globe.”  

Both Wyatt and Fitzhugh-Craig are trained and experienced journalists in reporting, editing, publishing, new media ventures, online journalistic efforts, business management and photo journalism.  CFO Z’ma Wyatt says their primary concern in starting up the enterprise was they saw "that legacy journalism had done a poor job of providing a voice to people of color, especially women.  Even more so, those in underserved communities.”  

The Ray Taliaferro Entrepreneurial Spirit Award will be awarded annually, through a generous seed grant from The Barry Bonds Family Foundation.  The award is intended to provide nationwide recognition for an awardees' use, introduction or contribution to new forms of journalistic media.  The award will additionally serve to highlight the role of Black Journalists within the "new media” movement, and NABJ’s continued efforts to raise the standards by which all journalists are measured.  

San Francisco radio talk show host Ray Taliaferro, for whom the annual award is named after, has been broadcasting for more than 45 years – and was the first black radio talk show host on a major market radio station in the country.  As a result of his many broadcasting accomplishments, Ray was honored this year as one of NABJ’s Hall of Fame recipients.  

The Ray Taliaferro Entrepreneurial Spirit Award Selection committee was comprised of nationally recognized NABJ members and journalists.  The Committee members were: Ray Taliaferro; Charles Gardner, managing director of the Barry Bonds Family Foundation; Benet Wilson, online managing editor of Business Week; Mike Green, Co-Founder of the Black Innovative Competitiveness Initiative; Sheila Brooks, CEO SRB Communications; Doug Mitchell, Co-Director UNITY Entrepreneurial Program; and Paul Brock, NABJ Founding Executive Director.   

shades Magazine will be joined by other top honorees including the Miami Herald's Jacqueline Charles for Journalist of the Year, and NABJ Founder Acel Moore for Lifetime Achievement, as well as ESPN's Claire Smith for the organization's Legacy Award. NABJ's 36th Annual Convention and Career Fair will take place Aug. 3-7 in Philadelphia, PA. For additional information, ticket sales and registration, please visit us at www.nabj.org. 

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