Gannett Editors Joe Grimm and Wanda Lloyd Honored with Diversity Leadership Awards
McLean, Va. – Two Gannett editors have been named winners of the sixth annual Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership.
Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press, and Wanda Lloyd, executive editor of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, will be honored for their outstanding leadership in newspaper newsroom diversity at the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) convention Oct. 5 in Washington, D.C.
The awards recognize leadership in news content. This year’s winners also were singled out for their career-long contributions to recruiting, developing and retaining journalists of color.
The awards are given by APME and the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) in partnership with the Freedom Forum, which provides funding. Each honoree receives $2,500 and a sculpture.
“It is wonderful to see Wanda Lloyd and Joe Grimm cited for this award,” says Phil Currie, senior vice president of news in Gannett’s Newspaper Division. “The two have contributed so much to diversity within the company and outside for so many years. They epitomize the outstanding efforts all should strive for in advancing diversity and serving all the people in our audiences.”
Grimm works in the newsroom once led by Robert McGruder, for whom the award is named. McGruder, a former Free Press executive editor and a diversity champion, died in April 2002. Grimm won in the over-75,000 circulation category.
“Bob McGruder would not have been as successful in moving the numbers and creating the type of newsroom where everyone felt welcomed without Joe Grimm,” said Arlene Notoro Morgan, associate dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, who nominated Grimm for the award.
Award judges noted that Grimm developed the Spirit of Diversity job fair, created a popular online news careers site and has worked with a newsroom training program that focuses on the diversity of the community. He writes a column for UNITYNews, an electronic newsletter of UNITY: Journalists of Color, and an “Ask the Recruiter” column for the Poynter Career Center.
In the under-75,000 circulation category, Lloyd also was recognized for her coaching and mentoring of young journalists. “She talks regularly with aspiring high school journalists and brings them to the newspaper for a tour,” said Mel Gray, managing editor of the Advertiser, who nominated Lloyd. “Wanda touches young lives even when they aren’t working directly for her. She’ll mentor these gifted young people at conventions, job fairs or simply meetings of the local NABJ chapter.”
Lloyd has been executive director of the Freedom Forum’s Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University. She is a founding member of the National Association of Minority Media Executives and has chaired the diversity and human resources committees of the ASNE.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a leading international news and information company that publishes 85 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 1,000 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes nearly 300 titles, including 18 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
Media inquiries, contact:
Tara Connell
Vice President of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com