Detroit columnist wins Will Rogers Humanitarian Award
James Rogers, great-grandson of Will Rogers, was on hand at the National Society of Newsaper Columnists annual conference to present Detroit columnist Rochelle Riley with the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award.
Rochelle Riley could not have imagined in 1999, when she made a motion to create the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, that 12 years later she would be singled out for the honor.
The crusading columnist of the Detroit Free Press was at the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal at the time and assisted in hosting the annual conference.
Riley, who writes commentary on social, political and cultural issues, was recognized for her decade-long project for adult literacy as well as many other community service activities.
“I have been enamored with Mr. Rogers for years,” she said. “No self-respecting journalist should be unfamiliar with what he gave to America during his lifetime that was cut short too soon.”
The award was presented by James Rogers, great-grandson of Will Rogers, at the organization’s annual conference in Detroit.
Riley, who has been at the Free Press since September 2000, “has been a crusader for public engagement to improve the lot of America’s most distressed major city; for the proper care of children in homes, schools or foster care; for helping people of any age learn to read or read better; for efficient conscientious government; and for celebrating the lives of inspiring people, who succeed against the odds.”
Her associate editor Ron Dzwonkowski said she never passes up an opportunity to promote literacy, particularly for the adult population, in a state where research shows one of four adults does not read well enough to hold down a 21st Century job that will support a family.
Her 10-year campaign finally paid off when six Detroit-area Rotary Clubs delivered after a May 7, 2010 column. Rotary Clubs pledged 3,000 volunteer tutors to help adults improve their reading. Six weeks later, the six clubs turned into 20. This year it has grown to 50 across southeast Michigan and southern Ontario, Canada.
The editor said Riley uses “her Free Press pulpit to scold, cajole and praise, to complain and explain, to ask the difficult questions and offer the sensible answers … She brings people together and makes things happen. In so doing, she makes things better.”
The Will Rogers award, according to Bob Haught with the national columnists organization, is named for the columnist of the 1920s and 1930s who performed many humanitarian actions. It is presented annually to a columnist whose work produces tangible benefits in the community served by his or her newspaper.
Riley has won many local, state and national honors and was named by Michigan Press Association the state’s best local columnist three times. Her columns for the Free Press were part of an entry that won the newspaper the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for local news coverage.
In addition to Louisville, she has worked for the Washington Post, Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Morning News. Her debut column in the Courier-Journal called for a museum honoring Louisville native Muhammad Ali and helped spur an $80 million campaign to build the Muhammad Ali Center, which opened in 2005.