Sports Journalism Institute Leaders Honored for two Decades of Service

More than 250 young journalists have been trained by the group

WASHINGTON, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of
Black Journalists (NABJ) announced that Leon Carter and Sandy Rosenbush of the
Sports Journalism Institute will receive the organization's annual Legacy
Award given out at its Salute to Excellence Gala on August 8, in Tampa.

"Leon and Sandy sacrificed their personal time, vacation time and they put the
careers of others ahead of their own because they saw a need," said NABJ
President Barbara Ciara. "No one asked them to do this, but they put their
money where their mouths are to protect the integrity of newsrooms and bring
up a new generation of sports journalists."

The Sports Journalism Institute is a 9-week training and internship program
for college students interested in sports journalism careers. The Institute
attracts talented minority students to print journalism and works in
conjunction with the Poynter Institute to provide a training week. Paid
eight-week internships at newspapers around the country follow the training
week.

Leon Carter is the sports editor at the New York Daily News, and Sandy
Rosenbush of ESPN is a former editor for Sports Illustrated and The New York
Times. The two conceived of SJI at the 1992 NABJ Convention in Detroit when
together they decided they wanted to change the way sports departments looked.

"These two individuals are visionary people that took an issue -- lack of
diversity in sports departments -- and took it upon themselves to make a
difference," said NABJ Treasurer Gregory Lee, a graduate of the Institute's
second class. "I've known a lot of journalism programs, but never seen any
journalism program on the backs of two individuals."

ESPN, the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and several other
newspapers have worked with the Institute in the past to provide unique
internship opportunities to students. The Sports Journalism Institute works
with NABJ, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and is funded by the Tribune
Foundation, Hearst Newspapers/Houston Chronicle, Associated Press Sports
Editors and the New York Daily News.

The Sports Journalism Institute began in 1993 and has trained more than 250
minority student-journalists.

Honorees will be recognized at the 2009 NABJ Annual Convention and Career Fair
in Tampa, Fla.Aug. 5 - 9. The NABJ Convention is the largest gathering of
minority journalists in the country. For more information, go to www.nabj.org.

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest
organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100
members, and provides educational, career development and support to black
journalists worldwide.

SOURCE National Association of Black Journalists

Abraham Mahshie of the National Association of Black Journalists,
+1-866-479-NABJ, amahshie@nabj.org