Dow Jones News Fund Names Walter Middlebrook the 2024 Recipient of the Richard J. Levine Journalism Champion Award
November 1, 2024
New York [November 1, 2024] — The Dow Jones News Fund has announced that veteran journalist, recruiter, and educator Walter Middlebrook will receive the 2024 Richard J. Levine Journalism Champion Award.
This award, created in 2022, recognizes individuals whose efforts help sustain a strong and diverse free press. It also honors the memory of Richard J. Levine, a former president of the News Fund and a long-standing executive at Dow Jones, who was a passionate advocate for the vital role of a free press throughout his career as a reporter, editor, and manager at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones. Levine passed away in March 2022. The recipient is chosen from nominees vetted by a committee of News Fund staff and board members.
Middlebrook currently serves as the Foster Professor of Practice at Penn State University and has held senior editorial and management roles at various leading daily news outlets over his forty-year career.
Joe Grimm, a journalism professor at Michigan State University, highlighted Middlebrook’s influence in his nomination: “As a dedicated recruiter, Middlebrook has taught, recruited, hired, and mentored thousands of journalists and students, organizing job fairs to enhance diversity within the industry. Many of his mentees now lead newsrooms.”
Previously, Middlebrook was an assistant managing editor at The Detroit News, where he managed an award-winning metro news desk and investigations team before joining Penn State in fall 2020. In April 2023, he was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.
His extensive experience includes editorial roles at The New York Times, Newsday/New York Newsday, USA Today, and the Minneapolis Star and St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press. He was part of the Newsday team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for breaking news coverage of a tragic subway incident in Manhattan.
Training future journalists has been a cornerstone of Middlebrook’s work, including serving as director of Times Mirror’s METPRO/Editing program, which focused on training minority candidates for copy editing positions. He has also taught at Michigan State and Hofstra universities and at the Maynard Institute’s Editing Program for Minority Journalists.
In recognition of his contributions, the Detroit Society of Professional Journalists awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. He is currently the treasurer for Detroit SPJ and the vice president of the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation board. Additionally, he is a member of the boards for the Fair Media Council of Long Island, the Daily Collegian at Penn State, and the Board of Student Publications at the University of Michigan.
Middlebrook is a lifetime member of both the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and he actively coaches and mentors at the Detroit Writing Room. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, he graduated from Boston University.
Brent Jones, president of the News Fund, expressed excitement over the award: “The Dow Jones News Fund is pleased to present the Levine Award to Walter Middlebrook, whose remarkable career as a journalist, educator, and recruiter has profoundly influenced many journalists from diverse backgrounds nationwide. We look forward to celebrating this achievement with him.”
This afternoon, Middlebrook will receive the Journalism Champion Award, which includes a monetary prize of $2,500, during the Dow Jones News Fund Board of Directors awards luncheon.
About the Dow Jones News Fund:
The Dow Jones News Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting careers in journalism and ensuring a diverse, well-trained media workforce committed to a strong, independent press. The organization is supported by Dow Jones & Company, the Dow Jones Foundation, major media outlets, and private donations.
About The Richard J. Levine Journalism Champion Award:
The Richard J. Levine Journalism Champion Award, established in August 2022, honors individuals whose work reinforces a diverse and robust free press. It is named in memory of Richard J. Levine, the late president of the News Fund, recognizing his significant contributions to the field of journalism. The award is funded through contributions from the Dow Jones News Fund, the Dow Jones Foundation, The Wall Street Journal, and Dow Jones Corp, along with individual donations earmarked specifically for this award.
