2024 Missouri Honor Medalists to deliver master classes at Missouri School of Journalism
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Sept. 18, 2024) — The 2024 recipients of the Missouri Honor Medal will deliver master classes to students and the public at the Missouri School of Journalism’s Smith Forum on Monday, Sept. 23, before receiving their medals later that night. The master classes are free and open to all.
Pioneering PR veteran Renetta McCann, former Radiolab co-hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, and St. Louis American Publisher Donald Suggs will each offer insights across an array of topics based on their firsthand experiences as highly respected figures in journalism and strategic communication. The sessions will also feature Q&A periods.
“I’m grateful to this year’s medalists for embracing the Honor Medal not just as an honor but as an occasion to pay it forward to the next generation and the community at large,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School. “This is an opportunity to speak with people who boast the sort of knowledge and experience that only a handful can claim, and it’s the kind of opportunity that makes this institution the finest school of journalism in the world.”
Following the master classes, the medalists will accept their honors at an evening banquet at The Atrium on Tenth in downtown Columbia. Read on for more about each master class, and to learn more about this year’s medalists, click here.
Donald Suggs
Why community journalism matters
10 a.m., Smith Forum
Drawing from a broad range of experiences, from his active role in the Civil Rights Movement to his stewardship of the largest weekly newspaper in Missouri, Suggs will discuss community journalism’s vital role in preserving a functional democracy, elevating voices and fostering vibrant, news-literate communities.
Renetta McCann
Looking forward: A conversation with Renetta McCann
11 a.m., Smith Forum
McCann, the chief inclusion experiences officer for Publicis Groupe and a pathbreaking marketer with nearly half a century of experience, will offer four key principles for students preparing to begin their careers. She will also take attendees through her career as a Black woman and mother who became a leader in multiple facets of the industry only a few years after the peak of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich
Radiolab being born
2 p.m., Smith Forum
Abumrad and Krulwich, the architects of Radiolab’s success as an audio program that covers complex subject matter in consistently accessible and entertaining ways, promise to share “moments that felt fabulous, moments that felt dangerous, moments that felt awful and moments that left us stuck.” They can also provide rare insight into what it was like to keep a grip on a program that blossomed into a stunning success that changed the landscape of audio journalism and podcasting.
Updated: September 18, 2024