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.
Journalism History and American Journalism are offering a combined $4,800 in microgrant funding to encourage research relating to the intersection of 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, respectively. Topics should incorporate any of the following or an intersection of the following with media history:race/ethnicity, gender/sexuality, class, religion, disability, mental health, and/or rural populations. Topics related to public relations and advertising diversity history are also welcome.
Chair Rachel Grant (Florida) offered a welcome to the 35 members in attendance. Minutes from last year’s division business meeting were approved unanimously.
Leadership presented an overview of the division’s work during the past year: updating the AEJMC Community page for the division, maintaining the website minus a web administrator, continuing to expand international reach and membership, and celebrating 50 years of Journalism History, the division’s journal. There were no questions. Maddie Liseblad voiced the need for a website administrator.
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).
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.”
Wardis 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.
Dr. Melita Garza won Journalism History‘s 2024 essay contest.
Dr. Melita Garza of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, won the 2024 essay contest sponsored by Journalism History.
Originally the brainchild of Dr. Erika Pribanic-Smith (University of Texas at Arlington), the competition first began in 2018 and has featured essays around specific themes. This year’s competition focused on civil rights with the impetus being the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A panel of judges assessed the submitted essay proposals, and selected Dr. Garza’s as the best. She will receive a $100 prize and have her essay published in the journal.
Journalism History, the journal of the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), is celebrating fifty years of continuous publishing with a special commemorative issue. The electronic version was published Feb. 13, and can be viewed at https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ujhi20/50/1?nav=tocList, and the print version should be mailed the first of March.
Anna E. Lindner, Michael Fuhlhage, D. T. Frazier, and Keena S. Neal are the winners of the 2024 Tom Reilly Award. Their article, “’If Ever Saints Wept and Hell Rejoiced, It Must Have Been Over the Passage of That Law’: The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act in Detroit River Borderland Newspapers, 1851-1852” was the most popular research study on the Journalism History website in 2023.
While conducting this research, all four scholars were associated with Wayne State University’s Department of Communication and what is affectionately called “Fuhlhage’s Research Gang.” Dr. Fuhlhage is an associate professor and he has successfully collaborated with his students on several research projects. Lindner, Frazier, and Neal were doctoral candidates at the time.
Three scholars – Ed Timke, Marcus Collins, and Otávio Daros – have been selected by Journalism History to receive funding this spring to advance diverse perspectives in media history. Journalism History is the official academic journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) History Division. The goal of the grants is to increase diversity research in the journal.
“These microgrant recipients will be conducting vitally important research in areas where the journal has gaps,” said Journalism History Editor Pam Parry. “The journalstaff appreciates the leadership of the Publication Committee in conducting a diversity study of the journal in anticipation of our 50th anniversary. As a result, we were able to identify gaps that needed more attention, and so the Division started the microgrant program to encourage research in those areas. These projects are a step forward in bringing greater diversity to media history.”
