North Dakota Newspaper Association - News

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The project spearheaded by Teri Finneman recorded interviews with journalists in mid-America from North Dakota down to Louisiana in summer 2020 to preserve this monumental moment in journalism history.

 

The Oral History Association recently awarded the endeavor its Mason Multimedia Award “to recognize outstanding oral history projects, collections, exhibits, and multimedia presentations for the public.” Criteria included examining the professionalism of the project, effective communication, and illustrating the importance of oral history for understanding historical subjects.

 

“There were many worthy entries this year, but your oral history project on Mid-America’s newsrooms was especially impressive,” said Audrey Maier, award committee chairwoman.

 

Steve Andrist, Jill Friesz, Kevin Schnepf, Cecile Wehrman and Amy Wobbema are among those featured. The Essential Workers oral history collection is housed in individual state archives as well as at Poynter: www.poynter.org/the-essential-workers/. The NDNA Education Foundation provided funding to help support the project.

 

“I am so glad to see the efforts of these journalists in middle America recognized for the significant service they provided to the public in those early scary days of the pandemic,” Finneman said. “Historical preservation is critical to helping those in the future understand the lessons of the past and is a recognition of the valuable efforts that rural journalists provide every day.”

 

You may view all of the NDNA Oral History interview highlights on NDNA's website: https://www.ndna.com/oral-histories/ and also on NDNA's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ndnewspaper. The most recent interview highlights, Kathy Steiner and Trygve Olson, are now online as well.

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