Saltzman wins 2017 John S. Carroll Journalist Fellow Award

Paul Saltzman, an editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, has won the News Literacy Project’s 2017 John S. Carroll Journalist Fellow Award.

“Paul has been one of NLP’s most engaged and effective journalist fellows since he first volunteered in 2011,” said NLP President Alan C. Miller. “His remarkable dedication to our mission has earned him our heartfelt appreciation and this well-deserved recognition.”

The award — named after the revered editor of three U.S. newspapers and the former chairman of NLP’s board — is given annually to volunteer journalists who contribute significantly to NLP and its mission. The honorees are selected by a committee of NLP board members and staff.

Saltzman is the Sun-Times’ Sunday editor and investigations editor for projects. Reports he has edited have won the Pulitzer Prize, the George Polk Award, the National Headliner Award for investigative reporting, the Society of Professional Journalists’ national Sigma Delta Chi Award for breaking news coverage and the National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence Award.

He has been one of NLP’s most engaged journalist fellows, actively recruiting colleagues and organizing orientations, online conversations with students, field trips and other events. He has visited at least six classrooms across Chicago, has worked with two different student groups in local libraries as part of the News Know-how program, and has met with students during their field trips to the Sun-Times newsroom.

“When I first started working with the News Literacy Project, we were happy to be able to reach a couple dozen more kids,” Saltzman said. “Now, my paper has just hosted 100 teachers and librarians who’ll carry the message back to schools across Chicago.

“And the online lessons that I and others have done are seen around the world — even in Macedonia, storied birthplace of so much fake news. But what I thought at the beginning is still what I think: How could anyone not want to do this?”

Saltzman has played an important role in NLP’s e-learning efforts: He was featured in several early video and digital lessons, leads one — “What Is News?” — in NLP’s Checkology® virtual classroom and helped to create a graphic organizer featuring seven key questions, dubbed “The Saltzman Seven.”

“He is remarkably dedicated to NLP’s mission,” said Peter Adams, NLP’s senior vice president for educational programs, who lives in Chicago and has worked closely with Saltzman. “In fact, he has yet to say no to any request an NLP staffer has ever made of him — no matter how substantial.”

Saltzman is one of two NLP journalist fellows to be honored with the Carroll Award this year. He received the prize — $500 and a glass plaque with an etched photo of Carroll — at a private dinner in Chicago in May. The second recipient will be announced in June.

“I’m proud to be a part of the News Literacy Project, hoping to do much more and very appreciative of this honor,” Saltzman said.

Carroll, the second person to join NLP’s board, died on June 14, 2015. He also served four years as board chairman and remained on the board until his death. He was the editor of the 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 served on the Pulitzer Prize board from 1994 to 2003 and was its chairman in 2002.