Georgia columnist wins Will Rogers award
A Georgia columnist with a widely varied record of community service is the 2010 winner of the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award. Ed Grisamore of The Telegraph in Macon, Ga., was presented with the prestigious award at the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) in Bloomington, Ind.
Traditionally a descendant of Will Rogers has made the formal presentation. In the absence of a Rogers family member, five former winners of the award present at the conference joined in giving Grisamore this year’s award. They were Dave Lieber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who won in 2002; Stu Bykofsky, Philadelphia Daily News, 2003; Sheila Stroup, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 2004; Mike Harden, Columbus Dispatch, 2007; and Carol Dawson, who writes columns for the Jeffersonville, Ind., Evening News and the New Albany, Ind., Tribune.
The Will Rogers award, named for the humorist and newspaper columnist of the 1920s and 30s who performed many humanitarian acts, is presented annually to a columnist whose work produces tangible benefits for the community served by his or her newspaper. The National Society of Newspaper Columnists sponsors the program, which began in 2000, with support from the Will Rogers Memorial at Claremore.
The award, a miniature of Rogers’ statue in the U.S. Capitol, also carries a $500 stipend. Editors or community leaders may make nominations.
In nominating Grisamore for the award, Sherrie Marshall, executive editor of The Telegraph, cited a list of volunteer activities headed by his leadership in “The Reindeer Gang”, the newspaper’s annual holiday charitable giving effort. “Ed has told the stories of Middle Georgians in need, an effort that dramatically increased donations to dozens of individuals and families,” she said.
“Nearly $27,000 was raised in 2007 and more than $56,000 was raised in 2008, even as the economy soured,” she said. “The 2009 Reindeer Gang was also a huge success,” she added.
Marshall called Grisamore “a wonderful ambassador for the newspaper.” “While Ed generally writes four columns a week, he also has written daily columns during the City of Macon's annual Cherry Blossom Festival, where his knowledge of the community has made him a popular tour guide." In 2008, he was inducted into the Macon Sports Hall of Fame for "contribution to sports" in the city.
"He volunteers to read to students at local schools," Marshall said. “He also has taught writing at a popular summer camp for kids, taught senior citizens to write their autobiographies, and organized the newspaper’s boot camp for aspiring writers.”
Grisamore trained for eight weeks to learn ballroom dancing for a Make-a-Wish benefit in August 2008, writing columns that helped raise $66,000 in behalf of a 5-year-old girl with leukemia. In 2003 he wrote about a third-grade student who started a penny drive to purchase teddy bears for needy children. He asked every reader of The Telegraph to send one penny, and when the drive ended the student had collected 700,000 pennies.
As a volunteer Little League coach he used his columns to campaign for the city of Macon to start a Miracle League for special needs children, which became a reality in 2005. He has been a campaign chair for the March of Dimes and has served on the board of directors for the Salvation Army, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Macon Lions Club. Through his columns he has supported local efforts to build and repair homes for low-income families.
Grisamore has been writing columns for The Telegraph since 1996. He is the author of six books and has won more than 45 writing awards.
A highlight of the NSNC Conference program was presentation of the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award to Carl Hiaasen, columnist for the Miami Herald and an award-winning novelist.