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Posts published in “Awards/Honors”

Bryant Gumbel, Robin Roberts and D.L. Hughley Win Peabody Awards

By goodblacknews on March 29, 2013

bryant gumbel

Bryant Gumbel on the set of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”

Robin Roberts’ ABC special about her bone marrow transplant and “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” were among the 39 winners of this year’s Peabody Awards honoring the best in electronic media in 2012.  The honorees were announced at a ceremony on the University of Georgia campus, but the awards won’t be handed out until a luncheon event in New York City on May 20.
Also awarded, Comedy Central’s “D.L. Hughley: The Endangered List,” an hourlong special on whether black men should be on the endangered species list; and the Smithsonian Channel’s “MLK: The Assassination Tapes,” which used rare footage collected at the University of Memphis in 1968, to relive the events leading up to the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and its aftermath.

Stephen Burrows, 1st Internationally Successful Black Fashion Designer, Earns Retrospective in NY

By goodblacknews on March 28, 2013

Stephen Burrows’s collection for Henri Bendel in Central Park in 1970. (Charles Tracy)

Every decade or so, Mr. Burrows has a moment, whenever his disco-era look of rainbow jersey dresses and lettuce-edge hems has an unexpected revival in fashion. This season, there was more than a hint of his influence on the runways of Diane von Furstenberg (color blocking meets glam-rock wrap dress) and Marc by Marc Jacobs (berry colors and groovy prints that suggest the ’40s by way of the ’70s).

Stephen Burrows
Stephen Burrows

People are also talking about Mr. Burrows because he played a pivotal role as one of the American designers who participated in the 1973 fashion spectacular at Versailles, an event recently revisited in a documentary by Deborah Riley Draper and the subject of a book planned by Robin Givhan. That show broke color barriers in fashion in a way that has not been replicated since.
As of March 22nd, in recognition of Mr. Burrows, who is 69, as the first internationally successful African-American designer, the Museum of the City of New York began the first large-scale exhibition of his early work. More than 50 of his designs, including a chromatically colored jersey jumpsuit that Carrie Donovan plucked from his boutique inside Henri Bendel in 1970 for Cher to wear in a Vogue photo shoot, are on display, along with videos, photos and one of his Coty Awards. Mr. Burrows was the first African-American designer to receive one.

ESPN To Give Robin Roberts ‘Espy’ Award For Courage

By goodblacknews on March 27, 2013
robin roberts espy award
NEW YORK — ESPN is staying in the family in giving its Arthur Ashe Courage Award to Robin Roberts at its annual ESPY awards this summer.  The “Good Morning America” anchor is being saluted for how she kept viewers involved in her treatments for two serious illnesses. She had breast cancer in 2007 and last year had to undergo a bone marrow transplant to treat a rare blood disorder. Roberts returned to “Good Morning America” last month.
Roberts came to sister company ABC from ESPN, where she was the network’s first black female sportscaster.  Most past awards recipients have sports connections, like former Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt last year. But the ESPYs have also honored Nelson Mandela and the four men who tried to stop one of the Sept. 11 hijackings.
article by Associated Press via newsone.com

CalTech Astrophysicist Wins Teaching Award

By goodblacknews on March 25, 2013

John A. JohnsonJohn A. Johnson, an assistant professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, received the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching from the university. The prize was established by the university “to honor annually a professor who demonstrates, in the broadest sense, unusual ability, creativity, and innovation in undergraduate and graduate classroom or laboratory teaching.” Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on searching for plants outside our solar system.
Dr. Johnson is a graduate of the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of California at Berkeley.
article via CalTech Astrophysicist Wins Teaching Award : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

General Lloyd Austin: Meet the Black Man Who Keeps Breaking Army Barriers

By goodblacknews on March 22, 2013

General Lloyd Austin

On Friday, Gen. Lloyd Austin became the first African-American leader of the U.S. Central Command, which has a wide-ranging area of responsibility for 20 countries in the Middle East and southwest Asia. It’s not the first time in his 37-year career that he’s broken barriers for black members of the Army. He was also the first African American to serve in his previous position as the vice chief of staff.

Read more at: General Lloyd Austin: Meet the Black Man Who Keeps Breaking Army Barriers.

T. Geronimo Johnson Named a Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction

By goodblacknews on March 15, 2013

T. Geronimo JohnsonT. Geronimo Johnson, a lecturer in creative writing at the University of California at Berkeley, has been selected as one of five finalists for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. He also serves as director of the university’s Summer Creative Writing Program.
Johnson is being honored for his debut novel, Hold It, ‘Til It Hurts(Coffee House Press, 2012), a story of two brothers who have returned to the United States after serving in the war in Afghanistan.
Johnson is a native of New Orleans. He holds a master’s degree in language, literacy, and culture from the University of California at Berkeley and a master of fine arts degree from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa.
The winner will be announced on March 19 and the award will be presented at the 33rd annual PEN/Faulkner Award ceremony at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington on May 4.
article via jbhe.com

Film Independent + FOX HBCU Media Alliance Award Nekisa Cooper Inaugural Fellowship, Grant

By goodblacknews on March 14, 2013
It was exactly a month ago when it Fox announced what it called “a transformative new partnership” with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) designed to further the development of diverse voices across the company’s entertainment businesses.

Called the FOX/HBCU Media Alliance (FHMA), the union would bring HBCU students, faculty and alumni together with executives from Fox’s media and entertainment businesses in an effort to build a stronger pipeline for students interested in pursuing careers in the film and TV industry, and advance the careers of HBCU alumni already working in media and entertainment within Fox businesses.
As part of that partnership, FOX Audience Strategy established and funded the first-of-its-kind Fox Film Grant that will enable one FHMA member to participate in Project Involve, the year-long program of Film Independent.
A month later, it’s been announced today that producer Nekisa Cooper (Pariah) will be the first recipient of this newProject Involve Fellowship, which comes with a $10,000 production grant from FHMA that will go towards production of a feature film she’s producing (to be directed by her Pariah collaborator, Dee Rees) titled Bolo, described as a Southern crime thriller about a Memphis police detective who investigates a murder in her community, which in turn challenges her notion of home, human nature, and the difference between right and wrong.

Berry Gordy to be Honored by Songwriters Hall of Fame

By goodblacknews on March 12, 2013
Berry Gordy poses in the press room during the 27th Annual Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Hall on April 14, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Berry Gordy poses in the press room during the 27th Annual Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Hall on April 14, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

As the head of Motown, Gordy helped establish careers and hits for Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, and Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five. A Broadway musical about Gordy’s life, “Motown: The Musical,” debuted this week.  Previously announced inductees include Tony Hatch, Mick Jones and Lou Gramm, Holly Knight, JD Souther, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com

Professor Frank X. Walker Selected as Kentucky's First Black Poet Laureate

By goodblacknews on March 10, 2013
Frank X. Walker, an associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky, has been named as the poet laureate of Kentucky by Steve Beshear, the state’s governor. He is the first African-American poet to hold that position.  Walker also serves as the university’s director of African-American and Africana studies program.He will take the position of poet laureate in a public ceremony that is to take place at the state capitol building in Frankfort.
Walker, who is the author of a number of books, has taught at the University of Kentucky since 2010. Before that, he was a member of the faculty at Northern Kentucky University and at Eastern Kentucky University.  He has become well-known for creating the term “Affrilachia,” which is designed to unify Appalachian and African-American culture and history.

Homeless Man Who Returned Ring Gets Over $175K in Donations, Reconnects with Family

By goodblacknews on March 7, 2013
Billy Ray Harris’ story has inspired a windfall of donations.
When Kansas City homeless man Billy Ray Harris returned Sarah Darling’s engagement ring last month after she accidentally dropped it in his cup, it could have been the end of the story.  Instead, the experience has changed his life.  In the weeks since his good deed went viral, Harris has gained national attention, and supporters have raised over $175,000 for him to find a new home.
Something even more valuable happened: Harris is back in touch with his family, from whom he was estranged for the last 16 years.  Amid the media storm around the engagement ring episode, Robin Harris, Billy Ray’s younger sister, happened to come across an article about her brother, and reached out to the local news station that first reported the story for help tracking him down.
“When I turned my head, I recognized the name, and I turned back around and I looked at the picture again, and it was my brother,” Robin told TODAY.com. “I called and I said, ‘that’s my brother. I’ve been looking for him for 16 years.'”  Robin, who still lives in Texas where the family grew up, said she made repeated efforts to find her brother over the years, but had heard varying reports about his whereabouts, and was even once told that he had died.