Presented by Victoria Advocate and The Victoria College

Jim Lehrer

Jim Lehrer is the news anchor for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. He born May 19, 1934 in Wichita, Kansas, attended middle school in Beaumont, Texas, and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, where he was one of the three sports editors at the Jefferson Declaration. He graduated from The Victoria College (Victoria, Texas) and the University of Missouri (Columbia, Missouri.) After three years in the U.S. Marine Corps, he began his news career in Dallas, first as a newspaperman, and then later as the anchor on a local news show. Lehrer started work with PBS in 1972, and in 1975 started “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” with Robert MacNeil. The show was later renamed “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” and in its most recent incarnation is known as “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”

Jim Lehrer Awards for Journalism

The Jim Lehrer Awards for Journalism was established in 1999 in cooperation with Jim Lehrer, The Victoria College, and the Victoria Advocate.

Categories

Awards are offered in two newspaper circulation categories: dailies and weeklies up to 25,000 and dailies and weeklies exceeding 25,000.

Eligibility

Any journalist working for a daily or weekly newspaper within the state of Texas is eligible to enter. Stories are not limited by subject matter. Entries must have been published between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 1, 2007.

Awards

The awards are presented annually by Victoria Advocate Editor Chris Cobler at the John W. Stormont Lectures on South Texas. The award will be presented Friday, February 8, 2008, noon at The Victoria College Student Center. One award winner will be chosen in each category and each will receive a plaque and a $1,000 check.

Entry Deadline

Entries must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 21, 2007. Mail entries to Sandra Drozd, Division of Social & Behavioral Sciences, The Victoria College, 2200 East Red River, Victoria, TX 77901.

Entry Preparation

Make the entry easy for the judges to handle; there are no specific preparation standards. Include a nomination letter from an editor, explaining the piece and any special challenges that were overcome to produce it. On the upper right hand corner of the letter, please specify the circulation category and publication name of the entry. There is no entry fee.

Judging Criteria

Lehrer is known for telling stories with honesty, fairness and depth. In that spirit, the awards are presented to honor print journalists whose writing and reporting demonstrate these same qualities.

Notification

You will be notified by Friday, Jan. 11, 2008 if you have won.

Previous Winners

1997 – Russell Gold, San Antonio Express News; 1998 – Carolyn Edwards, The Bandera Review; 1999 – the Editorial Staff of The Katy Times and Russell Gold, San Antonio Express News; 2000 – Bill Conroy, San Antonio Business Journal, Yvonne Mintz, The Facts, and Joe Holley, San Antonio Express News; 2001 – Bill O'Connell, Seguin Gazette Enterprise, Carlos Armintor, The Facts, Dane Schiller, San Antonio Express News; 2002 – Bill Conroy, San Antonio Business Journal, Jeanne Russell, San Antonio Express News; 2004 – Jerry Needham & Cindy Tumiel, San Antonio Express News; 2007 – Scott Reese Willey, Beeville Bee-Picayune, and T.J. Aulds, Galveston County Daily News.