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Congratulations to the Morgan State University Association of Black Journalists (MSUABJ) for receiving the highest honor given to a student chapter by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) at this year’s NABJ Annual Convention and Career Fair, held in New Orleans. Morgan’s students were selected as the 2017 NABJ Student Chapter of the Year, beating out fellow finalists the Carolina Association of Black Journalists and the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism Association of Black Journalists for the top spot. The students were recognized during the convention’s opening ceremony.
The Student Chapter of the Year Award is given for accomplishments made during the eligibility period. The winner is determined based on the chapter’s campus and community activities and programs, in addition to the number of new members who joined the chapter and NABJ.
Housed within Morgan’s School of Global Journalism and Communication (SGJC), the MSUABJ served as the host of the 2016 NABJ Region 1 Conference, which was held in Baltimore at the school. The Morgan students participated in the planning and implementation of the two-day conference, titled “One Year After Freddie Gray: Navigating Social Justice in Journalism,” which highlighted the death of the young black man while in the custody of Baltimore police. The event was open to the community and included a town hall discussion with the city’s police chief. Other highlights during the year included the chapter’s participation in the Student Organizations Summit at Morgan and having notable journalists, such as Nicki Mayo from The Associated Press and Justin Tinsley from ESPN’s The Undefeated, speak at chapter meetings. The chapter was co-founded in 2008 by two former SGJC faculty members, under the leadership of the school’s founding dean, DeWayne Wickham, who is a founder of NABJ.
The National Association of Black Journalists, an advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., is the nation’s largest organization for journalists of color. The association provides career development as well as educational and other support to its members worldwide.
