National Newspaper Publishers Assn. Foundation presents honors during annual Black Press Week event

The National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation held its 65th annual Newsmaker of the Year Awards Gala recently in Washington, D.C., honoring African-American giants in entertainment and polities during Black Press Week.

Honorees included: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), who received the Newsmaker of the Year Award; Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who received the Northstar Community Service Award; and entertainment icons Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis (posthumously), who were honored for their lifetime achievement.

"We are pleased to recognize these significant individuals and to thank them for their service, their support, their leadership, their courage and their dedication," said Brian Townsend, chairman of NNPA Foundation and publisher of the Precinct Reporter in San Bernardino, CA. "It is also our distinct honor to recognize the work and the life of Ossie Davis posthumously."

In addition to the NNPA awards, DaimlerChrysler Services presented the Entrepreneurial Award to Donald Suggs, publisher of the St. Louis American. Ofield Dukes, one of the country's leading publicists, served as chairman of the program committee, and Alexis Herman, New Ventures, Inc, chairman and CEO and former Secretary of Labor, emceed of the event. Speaking to the publishers who filled the ballroom of the Marriott, she quoted an African proverb: "'If the lions do not write their own history, then the hunters will get all the credit.' And I thank you for writing our history, for capturing our story. For making sure that you always kept the faith."