Dow Jones News Fund alumni Garry D. Howard and Wanda Lloyd were inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame on Aug. 9, during its convention in Aventura, Florida. They were recognized for their professional achievements and mentorship.
Garry D. Howard is the director of corporate initiatives for American City Business Journals, a DJNF board member and a 1981 editing intern at Dow Jones Newswires who attended training at Temple University with Dr. Edward Trayes. For the past five years, Howard has led his own internship program in partnership with the News Fund, training a new generation of business reporters.
Howard told the luncheon audience, “After being virtually invisible to the journalism powers that be, I wanted to become the power that be. Just for the chance to make sure that someone of my talent can be seen for his brilliance and not because of the color of his skin.”
Throughout his career he held editing and sports leadership positions at several newspapers among them the St. Petersburg Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Suddenly, I was just one small step away from my true goal, the ability to hire whomever the hell I thought was great. But there was still a problem, there was not one black sports editor at a major newspaper in the entire country, not one.”
It was then that Marty Kaiser, the managing editor at the Milwaukee Journal, hired Howard, making him the only African American sports editor at a major metropolitan newspaper. Since then he has hired and mentored countless numbers of journalists.
Wanda Lloyd, a former DJNF board member, is a retired journalist, educator, and an alumna of the Fund’s Temple residency with an internship at the Providence Bulletin in 1970.
Lloyd worked as an editor at seven daily newspapers, including The Washington Post and USA Today, over her four-decade career. In 2013, she retired from newspapers and moved into academia as associate professor and chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications at Savannah State University.
She acknowledged the News Fund and other organizations that supported her career. “I am the product of NABJ and so many entities that have given me the opportunity to learn and become a successful journalist and leader.”
In her speech she issued a call to action: “For those of you who desire to be a leader promise me this, go grab yourself a mentor and learn how to lead with compassion and authority. And then when you become a leader, I want you to make it your business to bring someone else along. Whether you are a college student or a seasoned journalist you have a responsibility to mentor others.”
Lloyd’s upcoming memoir, “Coming Full Circle: Jim Crow to Journalism,” will be published in early 2020.
