NLP Annual Report FY20 - Flipbook - Page 11
JOHN S. CARROLL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
GWEN IFILL STUDENT OF THE YEAR
Indira Lakshmanan
Kristen Locker
Indira Lakshmanan, senior executive editor at
National Geographic and a veteran foreign and
national correspondent, was named the John
S. Carroll Journalist of the Year. Lakshmanan
is a frequent TV and radio commentator on
journalism and journalistic ethics, served as the
first Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics at the
Poynter Institute, and was executive editor at the
Pulitzer Center.
Kristen Locker, a 2020 graduate of Florida Gulf
Coast University, received the Gwen Ifill Student
of the Year Award. Locker’s professor Lyn
Millner, a finalist for NLP’s Educator of the Year
Award, nominated her.
In November 2019, at NLP’s request,
Lakshmanan led a high-profile session on
news literacy at the National Council for the
Social Studies conference in Austin, Texas, and
interviewed Washington Post Executive Editor
Marty Baron on a keynote panel.
“It has been such an honor to get this award
and a privilege to get to work with you and
the next generation in teaching them about
news literacy and the importance of reliable
journalism to a healthy democracy and society,”
Lakshmanan said.
The award is named for John S. Carroll, one
of the most revered newspaper editors of his
generation and a founding member of NLP’s
board, who served as board chair for four years
until his 2015 death.
Locker used Checkology as a student and
became a teaching assistant in Millner’s news
literacy course the following year. In addition,
Locker delivered a lecture on verification tools,
developed assignments for students and
produced a video to promote news literacy to
freshmen.
This award commemorates Ifill, the trailblazing
journalist — and longtime NLP supporter
and board member — who died in 2016. It is
presented to female students of color who
represent the values Ifill brought to journalism.
“After reading more about Gwen Ifill, I saw how
much she did and the weight of her work in
corresponding, advocating, reporting, writing, all
of that,” Locker said. “To see what she’s done in
her lifetime, it’s just so inspiring. I want to follow
in that legacy.”
2020 Awards
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