The News Literacy Project to honor its journalist fellows with John S. Carroll Award

Volunteer journalist fellows have been a key to NLP’s success from the start, bringing their distinctive real-world expertise and experience into the project’s partner schools. There are nearly 300 journalists in NLP’s online directory; collectively, they have delivered more than 600 lessons in person and virtually since 2009.

These individuals include network correspondents, authors of best-selling books and winners of many of journalism’s highest honors.  Several worked for Carroll; five of them, including NLP president Alan C. Miller, won Pulitzer Prizes while collaborating closely with Carroll when he was the editor of the Los Angeles Times.

“John was tremendously proud of the work of our journalist fellows, both in their careers and in their generous service to NLP,” Miller said. “It’s only fitting that we celebrate their role in his honor.”

The volunteer fellows’ involvement with NLP represents an extraordinary commitment at a time when journalists are stretched as never before. Some have visited schools multiple times in New York City, Chicago, the Washington, D.C., area and Houston. Others have participated remotely from such far-flung posts as Cairo and Mexico City. Many have narrated video lessons or connected with students in several cities simultaneously through virtual visits from their newsrooms.

Carroll led Los Angeles Times from 2000 to 2005, during which time the paper won 13 Pulitzer Prizes. He also was the editor of The Baltimore Sun (1991-2000) and the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader (1979-1991). He was considered one of the greatest newspaper editors of his era, if not any era.

He was the first person to join NLP’s board in 2008 and served as its chairman for four years (2011-2014). He remained on the board until his death in June at age 73. The cause was Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare degenerative brain disorder.

The award is initially being sponsored with a gift from Maggie Farley and Marcus Brauchli. Farley worked for Carroll as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times and heads NLP’s Washington, D.C., advisory committee.  Brauchli is the former executive editor of The Washington Post and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.

Honorees will receive a plaque and a cash award at a dinner with NLP board members. NLP is seeking additional support to fund the award.