Georges Conference on College Journalism

The 2011 Christopher J. Georges Conference on College Journalism was hosted at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard in early April 2011. During the two-day event, more than 70 students from 16 college newspapers participated in workshops and panel discussions led by award-winning journalists and news executives.

Students from The Harvard Crimson, under the direction of Crimson President Naveen Srivatsa, co-sponsored the conference.

The Nieman Foundation is deeply grateful to the family of journalist Christopher J. Georges for their continued support of this annual conference, which provides aspiring young journalists with new ideas, skills and resources. The foundation is also thankful for the support of the speakers and Crimson volunteers who help make the gathering possible.

The opening keynote address “Turmoil in the Middle East: Journalism’s Newest Challenge,” was delivered by Charles Sennott, co-founder and executive editor/VP of GlobalPost; former Middle East Bureau Chief for The Boston Globe; and a 2006 Nieman Fellow. He spoke about the ways journalists were covering the Arab Spring uprisings, threats to reporters in the region, and the impact of social media and citizen journalism on traditional news organizations.

Other conference sessions included Investigative Reporting 101: Uncovering secrets and digging deep on campus, in your community and beyond; Multimedia Tips and Ethics: Reporting with Sight and Sound; Lessons from the Field: 10 things every young journalist should know; and Photojournalism – The Big Picture: A case study.






The Christopher J. Georges Award for Excellence in Student Journalism

The 2011 Christopher J. Georges Award for Excellence in Student Journalism was presented at the end of the conference to The Harvard Crimson for its four-part series on sexual assault on campus. Those honored included staff writers Melody Hu, Eric Newcomer and Alice Underwood and editor Lauren Kiel.

Honorable mention was given to The Yale Daily News for the three-part series “Yale and Peru” (senior reporter Sarah Nutman and managing editor Egidio DiBenedetto) and The Daily Princetonian for its five-part series “Behind Greek Lines” (senior writers Matt Westmoreland and Josephine Wolff with editors Jack Ackerman, Josh Oppenheimer and Michelle Wu).

The Christopher J. Georges Award for Excellence in Student Journalism honors exceptional, in-depth reporting by a student reporter on a policy issue of importance affecting his/her campus, community, or beyond. Judges look for reports that delve beneath the surface of the story and presenting all sides of its complexities with fairness and accuracy.

The Georges Award aims to encourage and promote the type of journalism Christopher Georges loved best: feature stories that do not simply examine policy making and reform, but explore from a human perspective both the intended and unintended consequences of these policies on the people who are affected by them.