The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) has selected Ken J. Ward as winner of its award honoring the best journalism and mass communication history book published in 2023. Ward is the author of Last Paper Standing: A Century of Competition Between the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News (University of Colorado Press).
The committee also recognizes Josh Shepperd as runner-up for this year’s Book Award. He is author of Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting (University of Illinois Press).
A panel of three distinguished media historians chose Last Paper Standing from a diverse field of entries. Judges cited Ward’s engaging narrative, the depth of his scholarship, and the book’s relevance for contemporary media issues.
One judge praised Ward’s book as an example of “long-form historical writing deeply grounded in primary sources.” The book tells the story of the fierce competition between the two Denver newspapers, which paralleled the trajectory of the American newspaper industry and culminated in the closure of the Rocky Mountain News in 2009.
The judge added that Ward’s book “is significant to both media historians and contemporary journalism critics. His exploration of the state of the Denver newspapers from the nineteenth through the twentieth centuries explains so many of the economic factors that led to the ills of the news industry today.”
Judges also praised Shepperd’s Shadow of the New Deal for its effective use of primary sources and its contribution to the media history literature. Reading this scholarship, one judge said, brought “a sense of discovery.”
“Shepperd’s book is a fresh, deeply researched entry to the canon,” the judge added. “It is rich in archival sources and nuanced in its interpretation of the birth and evolution of public broadcasting.” Another judge said the book will serve as a valuable resource for scholars studying the history of broadcasting in this country.”
Ward is assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, and a former reporter for the McPherson Sentinel. His research has appeared in Journalism History, the Journal of Media Law and Ethics, and the Journal of Media Ethics, and he has received the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Warren Price Award and the American Journalism Historians Association’s Robert Lance Memorial Award.
Shepperd is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and director of the Sound Submissions Project at the Library of Congress.
Ward will receive a plaque and cash prize. Both honorees will be recognized during the division’s awards gala, Aug. 7, at the 2024 AEJMC National Convention in Philadelphia. Ward’s book will be discussed in future episodes of the Journalism History podcast.