2004: Karol Nickell

Karol DeWulf Nickell (1979) began her publishing career at Better Homes and Gardens and later became the founding editor-in-chief of several Meredith Corporation magazines Read More

June 7, 2004

2003: Bill Monroe

Bill Monroe (1969) worked as publisher of the Spencer Daily Reporter and editor of the Cedar Valley Daily Times in Vinton, Iowa before becoming the executive director of the Iowa Newspaper Association in 1982. Read More

June 7, 2003

2002: James E. Grunig

James Grunig (1964) is leading scholar and researcher of communications and behavior at the University of Maryland. He developed a situational theory that accounts for why people communicate, when they are most likely to communicate, and when communications are likely to have an impact. Read More

June 7, 2002

2001: Louis M. Thompson, Jr.

Louis M. Thompson, Jr. (1961, 1969) is a nationally recognized expert in corporate disclosure and governance and a long-time advocate of the investor relations officer’s role with corporate boards of directors. Read More

June 7, 2001

2000: Christopher Adams

Chris Adams (1988) is a reporter in the McClatchy Washington Bureau. He previously worked for the Wall Street Journal and the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune. Adams has reported on education, the steel industry, health care, race relations, and the environment. He has won numerous awards, including being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 and 1999, and in 2000 was part of a six-person Journal team that won the Pulitzer for stories on Pentagon spending. Read More

June 7, 2000

1999: Herbert Plambeck

Herb Plambeck was a farm worker, youth leader, and extension agent before becoming farm editor of the Davenport Times-Democrat in 1935. In 1936, he became farm director for WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa, a position he held until 1970. Read More

June 8, 1999

1998: Merrill Oster

Merrill Oster (1974) is an international business journalist and publishing entrepreneur. He founded several companies in the futures industry, including FutureSource, Professional Farmers of America, and Commodity Price Charts. Read More

June 8, 1998

1997: Ann K. Cooper

Ann Cooper (1971) reported for several newspapers and magazines before joining National Public Radio (NPR). Cooper was NPR’s first Moscow bureau chief, where she covered the final years of Soviet communism. Afterward, she was bureau chief in Johannesburg, and later covered the United Nations for NPR. Read More

June 8, 1997

1996: James F. Evans

James Evans (1954), considered a leader in agricultural communications, began his career as the associate farm director for WBAY radio and television in Green Bay. In the early 1960s, he began heading the teaching and research in the Agricultural Communications Department at the University of Illinois. Read More

June 8, 1996

1995: Ralph W. Anderson

Ralph W. Anderson (1933) grew up in northern Iowa and learned the weekly newspaper business from his father, publisher of the Ringsted Dispatch. Anderson’s career included editor and publisher duties in Grundy Center and at the Farm Bureau Spokesman. Read More

June 8, 1995