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Updated: Friday, March 14, 2008
Published: Friday, March 14, 2008 |
Contact:
NABJ Communications
(866) 479-NABJ
NABJ Selects 2008 Ethel Payne Fellowship Winners
WASHINGTON — The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) named DeShong Smitherman, a producer at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, and Cynthia R. Greenlee, a freelance journalist and Duke University doctoral student as the 2008 Ethel Payne Fellows.
Named after the historic Chicago Defender foreign and Washington correspondent, the Ethel Payne fellowship gives NABJ members a chance to gain international reporting experience in Africa.
“I am proud to present this year’s fellowships to two outstanding applicants,” said NABJ President Barbara Ciara. “These deserving members have an opportunity to reveal some of the hidden crises plaguing Kenya and Ghana to the U.S. and abroad.”
Perry will investigate The Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS (AMPATH) created by the Indiana University, a model nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She will travel to Eldoret, Kenya to capture “the struggles, blessings, strains and rewards of the workers and patients of AMPATH.” It will be the first time the AMPATH story will be told to her local and state-wide Indiana audience.
Greenlee-Donnell will travel to Ghana to examine child labor and several forms of contemporary slavery. Her four-week journey will include Accra, Eastern Region and other regions of Ghana. She will meet with child, health and education advocates, visit rehabilitation centers for child slaves and produce a magazine-length feature that explores the challenges of documenting child slavery.
“Both candidates stood out because of their originality and the desire of their respective organizations to assist in achieving their goals,” said John Yearwood of the NABJ World Affairs Committee. “The enthusiasm to partner with NABJ is exactly what we want to do when we look to send members overseas.”
The 2007 winners were Katie Gray, a New York freelance writer and Bonnie Newman Davis, a mass communications professor. Gray traveled to South Africa to explore the missionary work and the influx of African-American church volunteers going to South Africa. Davis examined the anti-poverty compact with Millennium Challenge Corporation (MEC) and the Republic of Ghana to improve the country’s agricultural productivity. Other fellows have traveled to neighboring countries in Africa including Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana.
For more information about the Ethel Payne Fellowship, visit www.nabj.org. NABJ annually awards $5,000 fellowships to journalists seeking international reporting experience through self-conceived assignments in Africa.
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.
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