The Front Page Follies scholarships are awarded in the name of an East Tennessee journalist, journalism supporter, or entity that has shown exceptional achievement in journalism excellence. These are the honorees for the 29 years of the Follies’ existence. While some have now passed away, we remember and honor all of them still.
(Many thanks to Charlie Daniel for his thoughtful and humorous cartoons which have graced the FPF invitations and cast tee shirts each year.)
Tom Siler, Knoxville News Sentinel sports editor
Escar Thompson, Associated Press, Knoxville bureau chief
Horace V. Wells Jr., editor & publisher, Clinton Courier-News
Glenn McNeil, executive director, Tennessee Press Association
Charlie Daniel, editorial cartoonist, Knoxville News Sentinel
Carson Brewer, columnist, Knoxville News Sentinel
Alex Haley, author of Roots and other works, resident of East Tennessee until his death
Carl Williams, news anchor, WBIR-TV
Tom Hill, publisher, The Oak Ridger
Kelly Leiter, professor and dean, University of Tennessee
Sammie Lynn Puett, professor and vice president, University of Tennessee
Wilma Dykeman, columnist, Knoxville News Sentinel
Carl Vines, Knoxville bureau chief, United Press International
Ben Byrd, sports editor, Knoxville Journal
Harry Moskos, editor, Knoxville News Sentinel
Heartland Series creators, WBIR-TV
Georgiana Vines, columnist and associate editor, Knoxville News Sentinel
Bob Gray, news reporter, WATE-TV
Richard Smyser, editor, The Oak Ridger
Bill Williams, news anchor, WBIR-TV
Jack Kirkland, chief photographer, Knoxville News Sentinel
Bobby Denton, WIVK-FM radio personality and general manager
Ron McMahan, editor, Knoxville Journal
Jim Crook, professor and director, UT School of Journalism, “Father” of the Front Page Follies
Sam Venable, columnist, Knoxville News Sentinel
Jackie Brown, news writer, Knoxville News Sentinel
Tutt Bradford, publisher, Maryville Daily Times
Tom Chester, managing editor, Knoxville News Sentinel
David Haley Lauver, songwriter, speechwriter and humorist, chief writer of the Front Page Follies since its inception
Jack McElroy, editor, Knoxville News Sentinel and Richard Hollow, First Amendment attorney (see below for more details on the 2008 honorees)
2008
For its first 29 years, the Front Page Follies scholarships were named for an individual whom the Board of Directors believed did the most that year to improve journalism in East Tennessee. This year we’re making history by honoring two giants of the First Amendment, and we’re making special recognition of nine ordinary citizens who helped keep government open in Knox County and, by extension, in all of Tennessee.
The 2008 Front Page Follies will laud “The Sunshine Boys,” News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy and First Amendment attorney Richard Hollow, for their pursuit of justice after Knox County Commission plunged our area into darkness with backroom deals on January 31, 2007, dubbed “Black Wednesday.”
Maybe not as funny as George Burns and Walter Matthau in the acclaimed 1975 movie or earlier Neil Simon play, McElroy and Hollow made an even bigger impact on the lives of area citizens, who have a more open government as a result of the decision upholding the Sunshine Law.
What will be hilarious, however, are the performances of the Follies cast, led by director Carol Zinavage. Some examples of song parodies now being rehearsed are: “Sunshine in our meetings -makes us nervous….” (to the tune ‘Sunshine on My Shoulders’); City Council members singing “Thank God We’re Not County Boys” (to the tune of “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”); “The Ballad of Pat Head Summitt,” with apologies to Davy Crockett: “… learned how to stare when she was only three….;” and “Bubba Shot the Red Light….”
This year the Follies will also honor the nine citizens who joined the legal action, represented by Herb Moncier. Their names appeared rarely in news reports of the legal saga, but we are inviting them to the show to be recognized and thanked. We affectionately call them “The Gang of Nine” and they are: Margo and Alfred Akerman; Gerald Bone; Donna J. G. Brian; Robert and Mildred Cunningham; Bee DeSelm; James Gray; and Mike Whelan.
2009
The 2009 Front Page Follies scholarships were named in honor of John Jr., Gregg, and Alex Jones of Jones Media Inc.
- From left, John Jr., Alex and Gregg Jones
The brothers are members of a multi-generation East Tennessee newspaper family, and each has gained prominence as a leader in state, regional and national media and civic organizations. Jones Media Inc. operates print and online newspapers and magazines in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
“Anyone who has any familiarity with Tennessee journalism knows of the contribution of the Jones brothers. They set the standard, not only for excellence in the profession, but for unflagging support of the newspaper business throughout the region,” said Jack McElroy, editor of the New Sentinel and a Follies honoree in 2008. “They also stand as a model of how media organizations must commit themselves to service to their communities. No finer honorees could be found in East Tennessee — or far beyond.”
Tax-deductible tickets are $100 each or $1,000 for a table of 10. Tables reserved and paid for by June 26 will receive a 10 percent discount. For information about ticket purchases, see http://frontpagefollies.com/.
“The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists is proud to join groups like the Pulitzer Prize Board, Tennessee Press Association, Associated Press Managing Editors, and Harvard University in recognizing the Jones brothers’ contributions to journalism,” Dorothy Bowles, former ETSPJ president and co-chair of this year’s Follies, said.
John M. Jones Jr.
John M. Jones Jr. is the editor of the Greeneville Sun, where he has worked full time since 1968 except for an extended leave of absence as director of communications with Campus Crusade for Christ International. John has held a variety of leadership roles in the Tennessee Press Association, serving as president in 1998-1999. He continues to be an active member of the TPA Freedom of Information and Press Institute committees.
John Jones Jr. is also a member and former chairman of the Editorial Committee of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and a past president of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. John has received recognition for investigative reporting and public service journalism, including the prestigious Malcolm Law Award from the Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors. John has served in leadership roles in his church, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Junior Achievement, YMCA, Boy Scouts and United Way. John is a graduate of Princeton University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Gregg K. Jones
Gregg K. Jones is co-publisher, The Greeneville Sun and president and CEO of Jones Media Inc. In addition to supervising the operations of his family’s media interests, Gregg is very active in state, regional and national media organizations. Jones is a past president of the Tennessee Press Association and is also a past president, director and committee chairman of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. Jones is past chairman of the Newspaper Association of America, the largest newspaper association in the United States. He served nine years on the board of the Associated Press.
Gregg Jones has served as past president of the East Tennessee Foundation, a director of the Greene County Partnership, a director of the Open Spaces Conservancy in Northeast Tennessee, a member of the executive board of the Sequoyah Council, Boy Scouts of America and president of Morgan Square Inc. Jones currently serves as a board member of The Regional Alliance for Economic Development. Gregg is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College.
Alex Jones
After a lengthy career in journalism, Alex Jones is now the director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. He covered the press for The New York Times from 1983-92 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. In 1991, he co-authored with his wife, journalist Susan E. Tifft, The Patriarch: The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty. In 1992, he left the Times to work on The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times (also co-authored with Tifft), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award.
Alex Jones has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, a host of National Public Radio’s On the Media, and host and Executive Editor of PBS’s Media Matters. He is on the boards of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, International Center for Journalists, the Signa Delta Chi Foundation, Harvard Magazine, Nieman Foundation, Black Mountain Institute, the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet and other professional organizations. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University.
