NABJ Announces 2010 Salute to Excellence Awards Finalists

Journalist of the Year Award to be Presented to CNN's Soledad O'Brien; NBC News and its Local TV Stations Honored with the Best Practices Award

WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced today the finalists for its 2010 Salute to Excellence Awards. The competition honors work from print, television, radio, online, and photojournalism. Winners will be announced Saturday, July 31, 2010 at a gala celebration during NABJ's 35th Annual Convention and Career Fair in San Diego, the largest gathering of minority journalists in the country.

"In this historic year, journalists treated issues of race and black America with heightened importance," said NABJ President Kathy Y. Times. "From stories on the Presidential Administration, to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy and so on; the stories and the field of candidates were remarkable."

Entries were judged on content, creativity, innovation, use of the medium and relevance to the black community.

"We're extremely excited and proud of this year's finalists for our national media awards," said Ray Metoyer, National Salute to Excellence Awards Chair.  "It was a challenge to select finalists from all of the exemplary work submitted by journalists from across the country, but this difficult task of choosing the best is a testament to the abundance of talent we have in our profession."

This year NABJ is honored to bestow its Journalist of the Year Award to CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien.

NABJ is also pleased to award NBC News and its local TV stations with the organization's annual Best Practices Award, and NBC Universal Executive Vice President Paula Madison will receive its Legacy Award.

For a complete list of the 2010 Salute to Excellence Awards finalists, please click here: http://www.nabj.org/awards/excellence/index.php

NABJ's 35th Annual Convention and Career Fair will take place July 28-August 1 in San Diego, Calif. The Salute to Excellence Awards Gala is sponsored by Fed-Ex and is open to convention and non-convention attendees ($100 per ticket for non-convention attendees, $1,100 for a table; $50 per ticket for convention registrants). For additional information, ticket sales, registration, please visit us at www.nabj.org, or contact Ryan Williams at [email protected] or (301) 405-0248.

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 3,000 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.

SOURCE National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)