Evening star., 1954-05-07
Stars Crosby Noyes Wins
Dutch Award for Flood Stories
Correspondent Gets
WiIIium the Silent
journalism Prize

NIOSUy .. NOycS, 1OIclSIl CUI =
respondent of The Star, last
night won the fourth annual
William the Silent Foundation
Award for Journalism for his
vivid accounts of the tragic
Netherlands floods last year.
Presented by the people of
Holland, the first prize of a gold
medal and $1,000 was accepted
on behalf of Mr.. Noyes by B. M.
McKelway, editor of The Star,
at a dinner at the Waldorf-AS-
toria Hotel in New York.
Two second prizes of $3.50 each
were awarded to Wade Jones of
Oberlin, Ohio, a former reporter
for The Star, and Rodney L.
Odell of the Passaic IN. j. Her.
ald-News, for their stories Of the
flood disaster.
The award was begun as a
memorial to IA American news
men killed in a 1949 plane crash
while en- route home from a
fact-finding trip to Indonesia.
1t is financed by public dona-
tions in Holland and is pre-
sented to the American news
paper or magazine writer ad-
judged to have written the out
standing stories of Dutch-Amer-
ican relations.
Hurried to the Scene.
Now covering the Geneva con-
ference on the ndo-China prob
lem, Mr.. Noyes hurried to the
scene of the flood disaster in
February, 1858. His dispatches
gave Washington readers an in
innate, on-the-spot insight into
the magnitude of the tragedy.
On February 2, 1858, his story
began:
Sometimes catastrophe comes
in terms of statistics. So many
dead. So many homeless. So
many people doing this or that
to cope with something that has
happened. Today in Holland,
catastrophe is measured in i'm
mediate human terms. You stand
on a dixie. On one side, almost
to the ground you are standing
on. there is water. On the other
side, 80 feet below, there is dry
land. houses, people and cattle.
Catastrophe here is not hard
to grasp. The dixie is giving
way"
The son of the late Newbold
Noyes, associate editor of The
Star, and Alexandra (Ewing)
Noyes, now Mrs. Thomas A.
Stone, Mr.. Noyes was born in
Washington March 2, 1921.
Before graduating from Yale
University with Phi Beta Kappa
honors, he enlisted as an avia-
tion cadet in 1912. was commits
stoned second lieutenant in the
Air Force in 1943 and flew SIS
combat missions in France and
Germany. He was discharged in
1946 as captain, having won an
Air Medal with 13 clusters and
the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Joining The Star staff in 1947,
he was assigned to several beats,
and in 1852 covered the national
political conventions and the
campaign tours of both major
presidential candidates.
1t was while touring Europe
last year to analyze NATO coun-
tries that Mr.. Noyes covered the
floods.
Worked for The Star.
Wade Jones, who tied for the
second award, was a Richmond
(Va.) and Star reporter before
World War II, later was an out-
standing war correspondent for
Stars and Stripes and after the
war Joined the publicity depart
ment of the American Red Cross.
He was with NEA Service at
the time of the floods, but pres
emily is free-lance writer liv-
ing in Ohio with his wife and
four children.
The author of numerous mag
azine articles and books, Mr..
Odell was sent to Holland by
his Passaic newspaper during the
floods to report on conditions.
The paper conducted an Opera
tion Holland" and raised $16,-
600 in flood relief.
The awards were presented
last night by Albert Balink, ex-
ecutive chairman of the National
Committee for the William the
Silent Award. named for THE
George Washington of the
Netherlands" who led his ma
ton to independence.
The principal address was
given by DR.. L. G. Kortenhorst,