MIAMI – The South Florida Black Journalists Association will celebrate another
extraordinary year in journalism by bringing together two powerful and well-known journalistic minds … in one room.
The annual Scholarship and Awards Luncheon, presented by CNN features keynote speakers Soledad O’Brien of CNN and The Miami Herald’s Dave Barry at the Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, FL.
The award-winning journalists will offer words of wisdom to aspiring and veteran journalists, as well as fans who have followed their careers over the years.
At the luncheon, the Rochelle Bridges Memorial Scholarship will be given to students to pursue a college degree in journalism. We also will honor the recipient of our Florida International University scholarship winner as well as
local print and broadcast journalists who have exemplified excellence in covering the black community. The June 11th event is sponsored by SFBJA, an affiliate of the National Association of Black Journalists.
SFBJA is dedicated to promoting diversity in newsrooms, fairness in coverage and professional excellence. The chapter seeks to identify and encourage promising young journalists of African descent. Each year, SFBJA presents a rich calendar
of community events including our annual Rochelle Bridges Memorial Scholarship, a holiday toy drive and media workshops.
This year’s high school scholarship winners are: Alexandra Gratereaux, a senior at Miami Beach High School and Mikaela McIntosh, a senior at Turner Tech High School in Northwest Miami-Dade County. The FIU scholarship winner is junior
Kenid Joseph, a Homestead High graduate who is pursuing a degree in journalism.
An aspiring photojournalist, Alexandra won top honors with a $1,500 scholarship. She plans to attend Long Island University in New York. Mikaela, the runner-up, will receive a $1,000 scholarship. She plans to pursue a print journalism career and will attend Valdosta State University in Georgia.
Kenid, the winner of a $1,000 from SFBJA, is pursuing broadcast journalism at Florida International University. The college junior is a graduate of Homestead High.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dave Barry
Most know Dave Barry as the signature writer who imbues everyday life with humor. Barry reminds readers that while we can all get old, some of us never truly mature. At least, that’s what his bio says.
Born in Armonk, New York, he is a 1969 graduate of Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where he majored in English. His first newspaper gig after college was at the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pa. His beat: covering municipal
government.
Tired of the dull meetings, he decided to try his hand at teaching business people how to write effectively. He spent nearly eight years, “trying to get various business persons to – for God’s sake – stop writing things like
‘Enclosed please find the enclosed enclosure.’ ”
He came to The Miami Herald in 1983, and five years later won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary. His column appears in several hundred newspapers across the nation. He also has authored several books including, Babies and Other Hazards
of Sex and Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States. Other
titles: Dave Barry Turns 50, Dave Barry is from Mars AND Venus, Dave Barry’s
Book of Bad Songs, Dave Barry in Cyberspace, Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys
and Dave Barry Turns 40. Two of his books were the inspiration for the CBS-TV
series Dave’s World.
Barry is married to Michelle Kaufman, a sportswriter for The Miami Herald. He is
the father of both a son and a daughter.
Soledad O’Brien
Soledad O’Brien is the face that CNN viewers wake up to each day as they tune in to American Morning. O’Brien has been anchoring the flagship award-winning news program for nearly three years, boosting ratings.
Almost always at the front of the big stories, she has covered hurricanes and tsunamis, the London terrorist attacks, even Star Jones’ “mysterious” weight loss. In the fall of 2003, O’Brien was the only broadcast journalist permitted to travel with first lady Laura Bush on her trip to Moscow.
Before going primetime, O’Brien honed her journalistic skills in the trenches as a local reporter and bureau chief for the NBC affiliate KRON-TV in San Francisco. She began her career as an associate producer and news writer at the
then-NBC affiliate, WBZ-TV in Boston.
O’Brien joined NBC News in 1991 and was based in New York as a field producer for the Nightly News, Weekend Today and Today. She also reported for the Today Show and the weekend editions of NBC Nightly News, as well as anchoring MSNBC’s
award-winning technology program The Site and the cable network’s weekend morning show.
O’Brien’s career includes an Emmy for her work as a co-host on Discovery Channel’s The Know Zone. Her coverage of the tsunami in South Asia contributed to CNN’s Alfred I. duPont Award.
And she is one of PEOPLE magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful” A-listers.
O’Brien is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in English and American literature.
ABOUT THE SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
Alexandra Gratereaux is a senior at Miami Beach High School whose Haitian and Dominican roots have made her sensitive to the plight of minorities and stoked her desire to capture it through words and on film. For Alexandra, working on her high school newspaper wasn’t enough; through persistence and diligence she earned an internship at the weekly Miami Beach tabloid, the SunPost. She was the tabloid’s first high school intern and her photos and stories appeared regularly in the paper. She plans to attend Long Island University in New York.
Mikaela McIntosh thought being on her high school newspaper was a cool elective until she penned an article about the annual Black History show at Turner Tech High School in Northwest Miami-Dade. The controversial article did more than
generate talk: it jump-started Mikaela’s interest in journalism. Mikaela never stopped writing. Now, she is looking forward to learning more about journalism and heading to a career in the field. She plans to attend Valdosta State in
Georgia.
Kenid Joseph is a junior broadcast journalism major of Haitian descent at Florida International University. The Homestead High graduate got hooked on journalism when her parents relocated from Maryland, and she signed up for a broadcast project at her Miami elementary school. The middle of 11 children, Kenid has had plenty of practice sharpening her observational skills, and
gaining an appreciation for different points of view.
