The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication has selected Dr. Janice Hume as the 2025 recipient of the Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award. A prolific and accomplished scholar whose work has focused on journalism history and public memory, Dr. Hume is currently the associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, where she has taught since 2001 and holds the Don E. Carter Chair for Excellence in Journalism.
Established in 2020, the Shaw award honors a scholar who has a record of excellence in media history that has spanned a minimum of 15 years, including division membership. It is named in honor of the pioneering journalism theoretician, distinguished journalism historian and former head of the History Division, who taught for almost half of a century at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
There’s a lot going on, no? I was in a meeting during the second week of the semester with other department chairs and our provost to talk specifically about all the ongoing threats to higher education, and the provost ended the meeting blithely remarking that that the chaos of the past several weeks felt eerily like the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’ve been thinking about the fact that many of our junior colleagues have largely only known the ebb and flow of chaos over the past several years. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the role of professional organizations, like AEJMC, and the stability and community we have strived to cultivate in the division, especially over the past several years. Successive leaders and officers in the division have worked to sharpen the focus on diverse experiences in media history in our conference programming and in our publications while also clarifying the value engaging with the division offers. As our campuses reckon with whatever instability the future brings, as administrators strategize about the language they may use to refocus academic missions away from DEI, as they make hard decisions about budgets in the face of changes to the federal funding landscape, I remain hopeful for the way scholarly community can provide a sense of stability and that the ongoing work of producing and evaluating knowledge continues.
Five media historians will receive funding supporting their research related to diversity and media history. The microgrants are sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s History Division and the American Journalism Historians Association. It’s a collaborative effort to stimulate more diversity research in their journals, Journalism History and American Journalism.
“The microgrants program reflects a unified commitment by our journals to support the unearthing and amplification of underrecognized voices and experiences from media history,” said Journalism History’s Editor Perry Parks. “The more of these stories we are able to tell, the richer all of our histories will be.”
Maurine Beasley, Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, is the 2025 Reilly Award Winner. Beasley was selected for her long, dedicated service to Journalism History, and in particular her many years as an article reviewer.
The Reilly Award is named after Tom Reilly, Journalism History’s founding editor. Previously, the award had been given to the most downloaded article on the journal’s website. With the academic publishing model evolving, Journalism History’s Publications Committee decided to change the award’s focus to the unsung heroes of the publication process: the reviewers. Without reviewers, academic publishing would not work. They receive no payment and put in hours of work for each article.
Bailey G. Dick of Bowling Green State University has won the 2025 Michael S. Sweeney Award for her article, “What We Talk about When We Talk about Women: Benevolent Sexism in Historical Studies of Women Journalists, 1974–2023.”
The Sweeney Award, presented by the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), recognizes the outstanding article published in the previous volume of the scholarly journal Journalism History. The Division’s Publications Committee selected the article from among five finalists provided by Journalism History’s current Editor Perry Parks and immediate past Editor Pam Parry. In addition to receiving a plaque and cash prize, Dick will be honored during the History Division’s awards gala at this year’s AEJMC conference in San Francisco.
The Broussard Award, presented annually, honors innovative, original, tested, and transformative teaching of media and/or journalism history. Applicants for the award may submit one of the following types of pedagogical approaches, including (but not limited to): entire courses, units, individual lessons, classroom activities, assignments, assessments, and/or teaching strategies.
Teaching ideas should be original, tested, and transformative pedagogies that have been used by the author. In alignment with the Division’s belief in the importance of teaching journalism/media history across the curriculum, submissions can include ideas used either in a course dedicated entirely to media and journalism history, or as part of other courses in media and journalism. The teaching idea should be transferrable, in that it can used by other instructors or institutions and should help instructors address one or more of the following concepts: diversity, collaboration, community, or justice.
Karen Miller Russell of the University of Georgia is the winner of the 2024 Best Podcast Guest Award from Journalism History.
Russell is the guest of “Episode 139: PR and Crime Novels,” which released in April. It was the top-rated episode of the year, drawing over 500 downloads and transcript reads.
Karen Miller Russell is the winner of the 2024 Best Podcast Guest Award from Journalism History.
“I’m delighted that my episode has been recognized by the Journalism History podcast because I think both public relations and popular culture are important but sometimes overlooked topics in media history,” Russell said. “I hope this encourages other scholars to consider working in these areas going forward—if nothing else, it’s a lot of fun.”
Nominations are open for the AEJMC History Division’s 2025 Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award. This division honor will recognize an individual for excellence in research on the history of journalism and mass communication. Nominees must have a minimum 15-year academic career and a record of division membership. To submit a nomination, please compile a single PDF file with the following items:
Cover letter that explains the nominee’s research contributions
Minimum of two letters of support
Nominee’s current C.V.
Self-nominations, with the accompanying supporting materials, are welcome. Nomination packets should be sent to committee chair Matthew Pressman at matthew.pressman@shu.edu. The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2025.
In early 2024, Marcus Collins (Loughborough University, UK), Otávio Daros (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), and Ed Timke (Michigan State) were awarded diversity microgrants by Journalism History. Since then, all three have made significant progress on their research.
Dr. Gwyneth Mellinger and Dr. Pam Parry are the recipients of the History Division’s 2024 Exceptional Service Award. This important award is given by the division’s chair and vice chair to members who have provided stellar service.
Gwyneth MellingerPam Parry
Mellinger is a professor at James Madison University. Parry is a professor at Southeast Missouri State University.
Both Mellinger and Parry have provided critical services to the History Division.
Mellinger has chaired the division’s Book Award Committee for several years. She is the author of the book Chasing Newsroom Diversity: From Jim Crow to Affirmative Action. Mellinger is the winner of the 2019 Ronald T. and Gayla D. Farrar Award in Media and Civil Rights History for her research on Charles S. Johnson, an African American newspaper columnist in the 1940s.
Parry has served as the editor of Journalism History since 2021. Under her leadership, she and her staff produced the commemorative issue celebrating 50 years of the journal. She is the 2020 winner of the Best Podcast Guest Award from Journalism History. Parry is the author or co-editor of eight academic books.
“It is a tremendous task to lead the book award and Dr. Mellinger handles all the behind the scenes work of receiving, distributing and seeking the best books in our field,” said Rachel Grant, chair. “The division appreciates all the work she has done to honor her fellow scholars. Serving beyond her term, Gwyn has stayed on through several transitions and we appreciate her time and commitment. Her kindness and leadership is an inspiration to us all.”
“There is so much unseen work that goes into managing a journal, and Journalism History is the cornerstone and legacy of the History Division’s scholarly community. Dr. Parry has stewarded the journal artfully during her tenure,” said Brian Creech, vice chair. “The journal has grown in scope and prominence during her editorship, but also retains an attention to detail and care for prose that makes publishing in the journal a genuinely meaningful experience for junior and senior scholars alike. From an expanded essay series, to facilitating research microgrants, to a rich, critical engagement with the content of scholarship in the journal over its history, Dr. Parry has led the journal in a way that best reflects the breadth and depth of our subfield and pushes the project of Journalism History and journalism history forward.”
Parry and Mellinger will be honored during the History Division’s annual Awards Gala on Aug. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Philadelphia.
