WestSide Press Congratulates John W. Fountain
National Association of Black Journalists first-place honors are among latest in regional and national awards for his celebrated column
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama, Aug. 7— John W. Fountain was awarded 1st place in the National Association of Black Journalists “Salute to Excellence Award” in the category of column writing at the organization’s annual gala held Saturday night at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel. Fountain was named first place in winner in two separate categories—large newspapers and small newspapers—for work in 2023 for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Crusader respectively.
“I am deeply honored to be recognized by my peers, particularly Black journalists, and to have my work counted among the best in the nation,” Fountain said. “I am deeply grateful to the Crusader and Editor and Publisher Dorothy Leavell to have extended to me the opportunity to share my work on their platform, which has been a champion for telling the story of African-American life for more than four decades.”
“Mrs. Leavell respects my work, my voice and perspective, and that is the highest praise I can give any editor or publication, truly grateful.”
Fountain was also a finalist for the National Association of Black Journalists “Salute to Excellence Award” announced at its annual convention in the category of Digital Media – Commentary/Weblog for his project on living in Ghana as a Fulbright Scholar titled, “Hear Africa Calling.” His winning work in the Chicago Crusader was for columns, titled, “50 Cent A Word,” about his abrupt departure from the Chicago Sun-Times after 13 years in response to an editor’s attempt to rewrite one of his columns on his deceased former journalism student Aaron Lee.
In this year’s competition, Fountain was named twice a finalist for large newspaper for entries in the Chicago Sun-Times for two separate submissions: “John Fountain Columns” and “America The Beautiful.” The “John Fountain Column” entry won first place.
At Saturday’s gala, he was also recognized for his 1st place award in the category of “Feature Series” last year for his 2021 stories on Jelani Day, a Black graduate student at Illinois State University whose lifeless body was found floating in the Illinois River in a former sundown town.
Saturday night’s NABJ honors are the latest in a list of top journalism awards for Fountain, a freelance columnist for the past 14 years.
In late July, Fountain was named as one of the nation’s top columnists in The National Society of Newspaper Columnists 2023 Contest. He placed third in the category of General (Print) for two columns last year in the Chicago Sun-Times. In the category of Social Justice, Fountain and Samantha Latson won second place for their project titled, “Invasion of Faith,” a summer-long examination of one church’s effort to save the soul of a violent city, published in the Chicago Crusader. Fountain won first place in this category in 2022.
In June, Fountain won 1st place in Illinois Associated Press Media Editors Award for a selection of three columns published in the Chicago Sun-Times: “The story of Rodney and Khalil sucks you in; as always, good reporting makes for good columns. Judges wrote: “The ‘coming home’ column takes a risk with the writing and it pays off; I was compelled to click through to the Africa Calling homepage. Bravo.”
It is the second straight year that Fountain won 1st place in this award category.
In May, Fountain won 1st Place Peter Lisagor Award for Best Column or Editorial From a Large Print/Online Publication for his columns in the Chicago Sun-Times for a submission titled, “America `The Beautiful” It is the second straight year Fountain won 1st place in this award category.
A 2021-22 Fulbright Scholar, Fountain is a professor of journalism at Roosevelt University. He is author of five books, and formerly national correspondent for the New York Times and staff writer at the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune.
Among Fountain’s Entries:
“A son’s violent death, a father’s undying love: This is Rodney and Khalil White-EL’s story’ | SEPT. 4, 2022
‘Brothers in Ghana’ | MAY 22, 2022
Congratulations