John Nelson, who started out in rural weekly newspapers, now edits two dailies and two weeklies and has always been an advocate for good journalism and open government, is the winner of the 2013 Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian.
Nelson, 61, is executive editor of Danville-based Advocate Communications, a subsidiary of Schurz Communications of South Bend, Ind., which publishes The Advocate-Messenger of Danville, The Winchester Sun, The Jessamine Journal and The Interior Journal of Stanford. Before joining the Danville newspaper as an editor, Nelson was editor and co-publisher of Pulaski Week, which was an award-winning weekly paper in Somerset. He began his career at the Citizen Voice and Times in Estill County.
The Al Smith Award is presented by the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, part of the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications and publisher of The Rural Blog. It is named for its first recipient, a national SPJ Fellow who co-founded the Institute and is chairman emeritus of its national advisory board.
As president of the Kentucky Press Association in 2004, Nelson oversaw the state’s first open-records audit and spearheaded a lawsuit to open juvenile courts. “John has always been about public service through community journalism,” KPA Executive Director David Thompson said.
Smith said, “John Nelson has ‘done it all’ in the newspaper business – country editor, daily editor, exemplary crusader for ethics and transparency in government and business, including journalism, passionately committed to his community, and inspiration to his family and friends. He is one of the few editors who ever made a speech so moving that I wrote for a printed copy,” when Nelson joined the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame this year.
“In an era of troubling transition for the news business and vexing conflicts in government, business and education, the strength of this country is in the character of its citizens who do the next right thing in the everyday challenges of life at the grass roots. John Nelson has been an enduring voice for Americans who do honest work, teach their kids to treat others as they want to be treated, respect education, and try to make the world a better place. He is a hero of community journalism.”
The Smith Award will be presented at a dinner in Frankfort Nov. 16. For more on it and Nelson, click here.
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| John Nelson |
The Al Smith Award is presented by the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, part of the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications and publisher of The Rural Blog. It is named for its first recipient, a national SPJ Fellow who co-founded the Institute and is chairman emeritus of its national advisory board.
As president of the Kentucky Press Association in 2004, Nelson oversaw the state’s first open-records audit and spearheaded a lawsuit to open juvenile courts. “John has always been about public service through community journalism,” KPA Executive Director David Thompson said.
Smith said, “John Nelson has ‘done it all’ in the newspaper business – country editor, daily editor, exemplary crusader for ethics and transparency in government and business, including journalism, passionately committed to his community, and inspiration to his family and friends. He is one of the few editors who ever made a speech so moving that I wrote for a printed copy,” when Nelson joined the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame this year.
“In an era of troubling transition for the news business and vexing conflicts in government, business and education, the strength of this country is in the character of its citizens who do the next right thing in the everyday challenges of life at the grass roots. John Nelson has been an enduring voice for Americans who do honest work, teach their kids to treat others as they want to be treated, respect education, and try to make the world a better place. He is a hero of community journalism.”
The Smith Award will be presented at a dinner in Frankfort Nov. 16. For more on it and Nelson, click here.
2 comments:
Makes me want to know what that moving speech was!
I have added a link to our previous item with parts of the speech. Thanks for asking, Heidi!
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