Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-12-29
Mrs. Eugene Meyer
Donor of Wendell
Willkie Awards
MRS. EUGENE MEYER, ORIGI-
Major OF WENDELL WILLKIE
AWARD TO NEGRO PRESS

NAHUM UT w E1NDcLL WALLnlC
AWARD TO NEGRO PRESS
WASHINGTON, D. C. (NNPA)
The Wendell L. Willkie award
for distinguished writing in the
Negro press on any question of
general public interest, announced
this week, is the brain-child of Mrs.
Eugene Meyer, wife of the editor
and publisher of the Washington
Post, the NNPA has learned. Mrs.
Meyer is making available to the
award committee the amount of the
prizes from her private funds. First
prize will be $500 and second prize
$3.50 annually.
Wendell Willkie had accepted
Craftsmanship of the awards COM
mittee and was working on the
organization of the regional, work
ing press committees at the time
of his death. DR.. Douglas Free
man, editor of the Richmond News
Leader, is now chairman.
In an exclusive statement to the
NNPA, DR.. Freeman declared that
the awards will be made not for
any particular type of article ad-
vocating any particular view. eve
are not trying to influence the point.
of view in the article. It might be
radical or conservative" What is
wanted, he said, is the wisest pre-
sentation and the best. eve are
trying to stimulate wise, sane and
independent thinking on the part
of newspaper men,"
Mrs. Meyer, for a number of
years, has shown an interest in
problems of the Negro She has
written on the subject many times.
Her series on "The Negro and the
Army" was widely publicized.
Explaining the operation of the
award committee, she told NNPA
that each editor of a newspaper and
magazine will be invited to send
in material which he thinks eligible
for the prizes to the working COM
mittee. The editor will be told
who is the local representative in
his area. The local representative
will ask two or three local editors,
both Negro and white, to assist him
in making a decision.
When the submissions have been
weeded out locally, the best en-
tries will be sent to Mark Ether
idge, publisher of the Louisville
Courier Journal, and chairman of
the committee of journalists. He
will either call the committee to-
gether or get vote by mail, and
the five or six best entries will be
sent to the Honorary Committee for
final selections.
The awards will be made in
October at a public meeting or
dinner.
The Honorary Committee in
cludes DR.. Freeman as chairman,
DR.. Frank Aydelotte, director Of
the institute for Advanced Study
of Princeton University; DR.. W. E.
B. Dubois, eminent anthropologist,
now director of special research for
the NAACP; DIR. Robert G. Sproul,
president of the University of Cal
ifornia; DR.. Claiming H. Tobias of
the National Council of the YMCA;
Carl Van Doren, the author; and
Mrs. Meyer.
The regional representatives on
the journalistic committee headed
by Mr.. Etheridge are Paul Bel
lamy of the Cleveland Plain Dealer;
Marquis Childs, columnist, Wash
ington; George Cornish of the New
York Herald Tribune; Virginius
Dabney of the Richmond Times
Dispatch; Marshall Field of the
Chicago Sun; Palmer Hoyt of the
Portland Oregonian; Louis M. Nc
Gill of the Atlanta Constitution;
Basil L. Walters of the Detroit
Free Press; and Harrington VIM
berly of the Altus (Okla.) Times
Democrat.
The naming of the awards after
Mr.. Willkie has been done with
permission of Mrs. Willkie "as a
tribute to his outstanding achieve
ments in the betterment of inter-