STEPHENVILLE, Texas — The Texas Center for Community Journalism, housed at Tarleton State University, will host “Courage, Tenacity, Integrity and Innovation in Rural Journalism,” a free, one-day conference, Feb. 29 at the University of Texas at Austin.
It will feature two winners of the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism — 2023 winner Craig Garnett of the Uvalde Leader-News and Laurie Ezzell Brown of The Canadian Record. Brown won the award with family members in 2007.
They will appear on a morning panel with Randy Keck, editor and publisher of The Community News in Aledo. The panel will be moderated by Benjy Hamm, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky, which will present the Gish Award to Garnett at the conference luncheon.
The afternoon panel will be moderated by Austin Lewter, director of the Texas Center for Community Journalism, and focus on successful innovation in rural journalism with Tara Huff of the Eagle Press in Hutchinson County; John Starkey of the newly nonprofit Rambler Texas Media; and Daniel Walker, who bought the Vernon Daily Record, Burkburnett Informer Star and Clay County Leader last year.
“Community journalism is alive and well in Texas, and w’re thrilled to help celebrate that,” Lewter said. “This event is of national significance, and we expect a wonderful conversation among our panelists.”
The conference runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Texas Union, 2308 Whitis Ave., coordinated by the Center for Ethical Leadership in Media in the UT School of Journalism and Media.
A block of hotel rooms is available at the Moxy Austin-University. An RSVP link and more information is available at tccjtsu.com.
The Texas Center for Community Journalism is committed to providing world-class training to mid-level professionals at community newsrooms across the state. It was founded in 2007 at Texas Christian University by director emeritus Tommy Thomason and moved to Tarleton in 2019.
Lewter was named TCCJ director in 2021. He instructs journalism and broadcasting at Tarleton and is faculty adviser for the student-led Texan News Service. He and his wife, Jennifer, own and operate the Whitesboro News-Record, a 150-year-old weekly in Grayson County.
A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State University is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of approximately 18,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. For 125 years, Tarleton State has been committed to accessible higher education opportunities for all while helping students grow academically, socially and professionally through programs that emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.