From left: Nieman Foundation Curator Bob Giles; Thomas Kaplan, editor in chief of the The Yale Daily News and winner of the 2009 Christopher J. Georges Award for Excellence in Student Journalism; Laura Moore, winner of The Christopher J. Georges Award for Exceptional Service to The Harvard Crimson and Harvard Class of 2009; members of Christopher Georges’ family: Mary Georges, Gigi Georges and Jerry Georges.
The Christopher J. Georges Conference on College Journalism
The 2009 Christopher J. Georges Conference on College Journalism was held at Lippmann House in early April. More than 70 students from 14 colleges attended and a number of them tweeted and blogged throughout the event, sharing their observations with friends on their home campuses and beyond.
As in past years, students from
The Harvard Crimson helped co-sponsor the event, introducing speakers, housing visiting students, hosting a farewell dinner and making al feel welcome.
Charles Sennott, executive editor and vice president of GlobalPost and a 2006 Nieman Fellow, opened the conference with a keynote address that looked at both the challenges and opportunities that new media present to budding journalists.
Sessions included:
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Reporting from the Field
Hannah Allam, Cairo Bureau Chief for McClatchy Newspapers and a 2009 Nieman Fellow with Andrew Meldrum, Senior Editor and Regional Editor for Africa at GlobalPost and a 2008 Nieman Fellow
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Elements of Narrative Journalism
Constance Hale, Director of the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism
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Lunch Address
Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal and Executive Editor for the Journal Online
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Reporting in the New Media Age
Joshua Benton, Director of the Nieman Journalism Lab and a 2008 Nieman Fellow
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Investigative Reporting
David Jackson, Reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a 2009 Nieman Fellow
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Photojournalism
Thorne Anderson, International Photojournalist and a 2009 Nieman Affiliate
The Christopher J. Georges Award for Excellence
At the end of the conference, the 2009 Christopher J. Georges Award for Excellence in Student Journalism was presented to reporter Tom Kaplan and editors Kimberly Chow and Tyler Hill from The Yale Daily News for the article “Can Yale be tuition-free?”—a look at what would happen if the university’s endowment was used to fund student tuitions.
Honorable mention was given to reporter Rob Silverblatt and editor Ben Gittleson from The Tufts Daily for a six-part series on Tufts University’s $20 million loss in Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme.
The Christopher J. Georges Award for Exceptional Service to The Harvard Crimson
At the request of Christopher Georges’s family in early 2009, the Nieman Foundation created an annual award for a deserving Harvard Crimson student. The award recognizes a fourth-year Crimson staffer who has been exceptionally dedicated and showed strong teamwork and a sense of devotion to both the Crimson and to quality journalism throughout his or her time at the paper. The winner is chosen from those who have been particularly giving of time and expertise to junior staff—and who have made an effort to mentor others. The first annual award was given to Laura Moore, a senior at Harvard.
Supporting The Harvard Crimson
Throughout the year, a number of 2009 Nieman Fellows continued the long tradition of volunteering at The Harvard Crimson, providing crucial feedback and professional advice to reporters and editors there.
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