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Gwen Ifill

Gwen Ifill honored with Forever stamp

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Gwen Ifill, who was one of most respected journalists of her generation and a longtime friend and supporter of the News Literacy Project, is being honored today by the U.S. Postal Service with a Forever stamp.

“Gwen Ifill was an extraordinary journalist and colleague, a relentless champion of news literacy and a treasured friend,” said Alan Miller, NLP’s founder and CEO, who worked closely with Ifill during her tenure on NLP’s Board of Directors. “She remains an inspiration to us to this day.”

Ifill, who died in 2016, had a distinguished journalism career at the Boston Herald American, The Evening Sun in Baltimore, The Washington Post, The New York Times and NBC before joining PBS in 1999. She was the first woman and first African American to serve as moderator of Washington Week and was a member (with Judy Woodruff) of the first female co-anchor team of a network news broadcast on PBS NewsHour.

NLP involvement

She was involved with NLP from the beginning, taking an active role in five high-profile events, attending many more, and talking up NLP at every opportunity. She joined the board in 2011 and remained a member until her death. As a member of its governance committee, she pushed to seek members who would bring expertise, experience, diversity and a strong commitment to NLP’s mission.

Since 2017, NLP has recognized her significant accomplishments in journalism and her commitment to news literacy with the Gwen Ifill Student of the Year Award, presented annually to a female student of color who represents the values Ifill brought to journalism. A committee of NLP staff and board members selects the honoree.

The dedication of the 43rd stamp in the postal service’s Black Heritage series is being held at Washington’s Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, which Ifill attended for years. The stamp, available in panes of 20, features a photo of Ifill taken by Robert Severi in 2008.

News of the dedication will be available on social media with the hashtags #GwenIfillForever and #BlackHeritageStamps.

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