OXFORD,
Miss. – The Department of Journalism at the University of Mississippi
has renamed its prestigious Silver Em Award to honor the late Samuel
Talbert, the department’s second chair.
On Thursday (Nov. 6),
Saltillo native Ronnie Agnew, executive editor of The Clarion-Ledger,
becomes the latest recipient of the newly renamed Samuel Talbert Silver
Em Award at a 7:15 p.m. banquet in Johnson Commons Ballroom. The
banquet is to be preceded by a 6 p.m. reception in the conference room
of the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics. Tickets are
available for $35. Call 662-915-7147.
Department Chair Samir Husni credits the journalism faculty for renaming the Silver Em in honor of Talbert.
“It was Samuel Talbert who started the Silver Em to recognize the great works of journalists either from Mississippi or who’ve made a significant contribution to the state,” Husni said. “The faculty wanted to rename the award in honor of a person who met those same standards. No one fits that mold better than Samuel Talbert.”
The Silver Em has been awarded annually since 1958. Among the winners are the late Turner Catledge, a Neshoba County native who went on to become managing editor of The New York Times; Bill Minor, a figure in Mississippi journalism for 60 years; Jack Nelson, former Washington bureau chief of The Los Angeles Times; William Raspberry, former columnist for The Washington Post; and Rheta Grimsley-Johnson, an award-winning reporter and columnist.
For more information visit on journalism education at Ole Miss visit www.olemiss.edu/depts/journalism .