Stewart honored by School Boards Association
Specifically, Stewart was honored in the award’s non-daily newspaper, news reporting category for an article he wrote last fall detailing how Warren County schools rely on vending machine sales to subsidize their budgets.
The Tennessee School Boards Association has been conducting its Awards for Excellence in Education Reporting program for more than 20 years. Its purpose is to recognize Tennessee journalists for outstanding reporting and editorial comments on public education.
“TSBA recognizes the importance of a partnership between school board members and local media. One of the main roles of a school board member is to be an advocate for children and public education and local media representatives play a part in that. Therefore, TSBA recognizes reporters who have done an exceptional job in contributing to a better public understanding of public education,” said TSBA associate executive director Tammy Grissom.
To be considered for an award, an entry must be nominated by a Tennessee school board. Entries are judged by a panel of state school board members on a number of different criteria including importance of issue, quality of writing and reporting, and documentation and support of major points.
In all, eight winners from across the state were chosen for the 2003 Awards for Excellence in Education Reporting in a number of different categories.
The award marks the second this year for Stewart, who was honored in May by the Tennessee Education Association with it School Bell Award for Outstanding Coverage by Individual Reporters.