Five journalists were honored at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center Friday for their contributions to the legacy of Alabama journalism.
David White, who has covered the Alabama Legislature in the Birmingham News since 1989, was awarded the Distinguished Special Achievement in Journalism award.
Also honored were Paul Hemphill, Howell Raines, George Smith and John Stevenson.
Hemphill, who died in 2009, was an Auburn alumnus and sports editor at The Auburn Plainsman in 1957, when Auburn won the national championship.
His wife accepted his honor, the Distinguished AU Journalism Alumnus award.
Hemphill wrote for the Birmingham News, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and many other papers before writing 15 books about country music, evangelism, football, stock car racing and blue collar southerners.
Raines, Birmingham native, former editor of The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winner, received the Distinguished Mass Media Achievement award.
Although Raines didn't attend Auburn, he said his "defining moment," a phrase he is credited with coining, happened at Jordan-Hare Stadium while he was reporting on the 1965 Iron Bowl. Raines said it was his first article with a byline.
The Distinguished Alabama Community Sports Journalist award was given to George Smith, who has covered high school and college sports for The Anniston Star since 1958.
"I came along at a wonderful time in sports," Smith said during his acceptance speech. "I didn't cover many losing football games."
Although Smith is technically retired, he still writes two columns a week for The Anniston Star.
Stevenson was given the Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist award for his dedication to community journalism as the editor of The Randolph Leader in Roanoke.
Stevenson's grandfather began The Leader in 1892 at the age of 21, and since then only Stevenson and his father have been editors.
The economy has negatively affected newspapers across the country, but after serving as the president of the National Newspaper Association, Stevenson said he was encouraged to discover that community journalism is still strong.
"The local newspaper is often the only source of local news," Stevenson said. "It's about sharing life's experiences and pulling the community together."
White, an Auburn graduate and former news editor at The Plainsman, said the best advice he received was from a professor of journalism at Auburn.
"There's an old saying that I learned at Auburn University: 'If your momma tells you she loves you, check it out,'" White said. "You can never ask too many questions. What you learn everyday is if you think you know something, be suspicious of what you know."
White said his goal in reporting on the Legislature is to inform people before they vote on an issue or a candidate.
"Why they should care, how it affects them or how it affects other people," White said.
He said people need to know the pros and cons of a bill before voting.
Although many remain misinformed or ignorant of what laws are being passed, White said he hopes to impact at least 10 percent of readers.
"There's no way that what you write is going to get to everybody, because a lot of people don't read, and they don't care," White said. "But with any luck what you write will influence what TV or radio does or what's on the Web or somebody's blog."
Learning valuable lessons doesn't stop at graduation, White said. He said mistakes often helped him grow and change in his profession.
"One of the first stories I wrote for The Birmingham News--I'm still embarrassed by this--I got the name of the mayor of Eclectic wrong," White said. "He was a city councilman, not the mayor."
When writing the story, White thought he knew who the mayor was.
"That's when I realized that you should check everything," White said. "If it's not something you know absolutely like the back of your hand, check it and make sure it's right, because if you misspell a person's name, that person never forgets. The people who know that person are going to know that you're not any good at what you do, your credibility is shot, your paper's credibility is shot--you have to get the facts right."
John Carvalho, assistant professor of journalism, said many people don't recognize the honorable legacy of Alabama journalism.
"The quality of the work they have done and their legacy is what we have come to expect," Carvalho said at the ceremony.
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