South Florida Black Journalists Association would like to thank everyone who donated, shopped, wrapped and handed out toys to the well deserved children at the Martin Luther King Community Center in Hollywood.

They were very appreciative, so much so, that they honored our organization with certificates and gave a special recognition to Audra Burch, who first forged the MLK partnership six years ago.

SFBJA is the ONLY sponsor of this toy drive. Without our donation the children who rely on the center would not have such a bright Christmas.

Special thanks also to Komoli Jackson, who jumped in head first to spearhead this year's drive. It is no easy task but she handled it with grace.

I look forward to seeing our relationship with MLK grow even more next Christmas.

Happy Holidays.
Nicole White
VP/Print SFBJA
Photo courtesy of Leona Minto

The 23rd Annual Miami Book Fair International will host a rich assembly of African- American and Caribbean authors between Sunday, Nov. 12 and Sunday, Nov. 19 at the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 NE 2nd Ave. in downtown Miami.

McArthur fellow and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones will to take to the stage to headline An Evening with Edward P. Jones on Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapman Auditorium, located on the second floor of building three.

This event will be hosted by the South Florida Black Journalists Association. SFBJA VP/Print Nicole White will be the moderator.

Jones, who won the Pulitzer for his novel, The Known World, portrays ordinary citizens caught between the old ways of the South and the temptations of the North in his new short story collection, All Aunt Hagar's Children.

This year's Book Fair will also host U.S. Senator Barack Obama, author of the bestselling memoir, Dreams from My Father, who will read from his new book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

Over the weekend on Nov. 18 and 19, the Street Fair will feature several noted Afro-Caribbean authors covering a variety of topics. New York Times bestselling author Pearl Cleage will weave a story of family, friendship and love. Cultural critic Paul Robeson, Jr., son of the legendary Paul Robeson, will speak about freedom, and Erik Calonius will reveal a little-known tale of a Civil War slave ship. Former Miami television news reporter Mel Taylor will talk murder and Quincy Troupe will discuss poetic language.

The Caribbean Voices Program will feature Kamau Brathwaite, Ramabai Espinet , Lorna Goodison, Deborah Jack , Shara McCallum, Pamela Mordecai, Dawad Phillip, Lawrence Scott, Donna Weir-Soley and Mervyn Taylor. Christine Ho will moderate a panel discussion on the topic of Globalization, Diaspora and Caribbean popular culture featuring Mike Alleyne and Keith Nurse.

The Caribbean Voices Program will be presented by Caribbean Today, whose publisher is SFBJA member Peter Webley.

This year's Miami Book Fair celebrates the classics and commemorates the universal artistry of Shakespeare and Mozart, among others, while it honors the talent of minority voices and emerging African-American and Caribbean talent. Here's a complete list of scheduled African-American and Caribbean authors presenting at this year's fair.

Raymond Arsenault , Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Justice
Phyllis Baker , African-American Spirituality, Thought and Culture
L.A. Banks, The Forsaken
Timothy S. Brothers, The Caribbean From Above: An Interpretive Atlas
Erik Calonius , The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy That Set Its Sails
Colin Channer, Iron Balloons: Hit Fiction from Jamaica's Calabash Writers Workshop
Pearl Cleage , Baby Brother's Blues
Michael Erik Dyson , Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster
Christopher John Farley , Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley
Anthony Georges-Pierre , Les Partis Politiques Dans l'Histoire d'Haiti
Tom Graham , Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball
Melissa Fay Greene , There Is No Me Without You
Roselyn Howard , Black Seminoles in the Bahamas
Uzodinma Iweala , Beasts of No Nation
Edwardo Jackson, I Do?
Marlon James , Iron Balloons: Hit Fiction from Jamaica's Calabash Writers Workshop
Marie-Elena John , Unburnable
Lisa Jones Johnson, A Dead Man Speaks: A Novel
Edward P. Jones , All Aunt Hagar's Children: Stories
Jane Landers , Black Society in Spanish Florida
Lyah Beth Leflore, Cosmopolitan Girl
Haki Madhubuti , Yellow Black
Annette McCollough Myers , The Shrinking Sands of an African-American Beach
Elizabeth Nunez , Prospero's Daughter
Geoffrey Philp , Iron Balloons: Hit Fiction from Jamaica's Calabash Writers Workshop
Roy G. Phillips, Exodus From The Door of No Return: Journey of An American Family
Leonard Pitts, Jr. Becoming Dad, Black Men and The Journey To Fatherhood
Gene Roberts, Hank Klibanoff, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation
Paul Robeson, Jr., A Black Way of Seeing: From "Liberty " to Freedom
Kimberla Lawson Roby , Changing Faces
Katheryn Russell-Brown , Protecting Our Own: Race, Crime & African Americans
Vickie M. Stringer , Dirty Red
Mel Taylor , Murder by Deadline
Sasha Su-Ling Welland, A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters, Rowman and Littlefield

There will be a nominal $5 admission fee to the Fair grounds only on Saturday and Sunday of the Street Fair. Fairgoers 18 years of age and younger, Miami Dade College students and employees with identification, Book Fair Friends, volunteers, exhibitors and guests with credentials will be admitted free of charge. Access to the Fair grounds on Friday is free. Events during Book Fair week leading up to the weekend Street Fair, including the Evenings With series are free of charge. In addition, a coupon booklet will be provided to paying fairgoers offering several discounts for items within the Fair.

MIAMI BOOK FAIR INTERNATIONAL

Miami Book Fair International is a premier event of the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College. The Center promotes reading and writing throughout the year by consistently presenting quality literary activities open to all in South Florida. Literacy projects target children of all ages—from kindergarten to high school—as well as college students and adults. Established and emerging writers from South Florida and all over the U.S. read, lecture, and teach workshops. They work with K-12 and MDC students, as well as diverse members of the community, helping to deepen their understanding of literature and encouraging the work of writers at all stages of development. The Center envisions South Florida as a nexus of literary activity in the Americas and beyond, and will continue to champion its mission of promoting the advancement and appreciation of the literary arts in all forms.

The Miami Book Fair International is made possible through the generous support of the State of Florida and the National Endowment for the Arts; the City of Miami; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor, and Board of County Commissioners; Miami Dade County Public Schools; the Greater Miami Conventions and Visitors Bureau; and the Book Fair Circle of Friends. 2006 Book Fair sponsors include: Target, Chrysler Jeep, AARP, American Airlines, Bank of America, the Mystery Writers of America, the JW Marriott Hotel, Burt's Bees, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Starbucks, Publix Super Markets Charities, Miami Dade Transit, Miami Parking Authority and the South Florida Black Journalists Association. Major media sponsors include: The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, CBS4 and MY33, Univision23 and Telefutura69, WQBA 1140AM, WAQI 710 AM, WAMR FM 107.5, La Kalle 98.3 FM, Comcast, Diario las Américas, WLRN 91.3FM/Channel 17, and WPBT Channel 2.

For more information on this event contact: Miami Book Fair International at (305) 237-3258 or visit www.miamibookfair.com.

Media contacts: Beverly Counts Rodrigues, MDC Director of Media Relations (305) 237-3949, Alejandro Rios (305) 237-7482 or Lisa Palley (305) 642-3132 .

›› Election rules

›› July 2006, minutes from meeting

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WHEN: SATURDAY, JULY 15th

WHERE: Carol Reynolds-Srot's house in Plantation, Florida

The meeting starts promptly at 11 a.m., with luncheon and pool party to follow.

As you all know, you've got to bring a dish to pass, and we need MORE volunteers for entrees. Of course, side dishes, sodas, juice, OJ, champagne (for mimosas), or KFC cole slaw are also welcome. Just don't come empty-handed unless you plan to dance for your dinner!

All paid members are welcome (bring your checkbook and renew or join). Spouses, significant others and kids are welcome too, as long as you RSVP. So please RSVP to Carol creynolds-srot@miamiherald.com and CC Emiene Wright, ewright@MiamiHerald.com to coordinate the edible donations.

The Miami Herald won six awards of excellence, including two for reporting on the Arthur Teele suicide, the Miami New Times two top honors and three television stations received accolades. The awards are designed to highlight and encourage outstanding media coverage of South Florida’s diverse black community. Winners were selected from more than 35 entries received. Judging was completed by the Baltimore affiliate chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Georgia East, SFBJA’s contest chair and a staff writer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, presented the awards. The SFBJA 2006 Awards for Excellence Winners are:

– Photography/Breaking News: Roman Lyskowski, The Miami Herald, “Art Teele Suicide.’’ On-the-spot photo at one of the year’s biggest news events.
– Photography/Feature: Charles Trainor Jr., The Miami Herald, “Antoine Allen.” A compelling image of a Northwestern High School football linebacker.
– Television/Feature: Quiana Burns, Julia Yarbough, Frank Adelson, Shawn Federline, WTVJ- NBC6, South Florida’s Living Legacy. A time capsule on a forgotten era in South Florida. For younger viewers this may seem strange in the wake of Miami’s mosaic culture.
– Television Profile: Sharron Melton, WSVN- Fox 7, Principal Thelma Stinson. An educator’s passion for children and for learning continued while Stinson was fighting cancer.
– Television Enterprise: Jennifer Santiago, WFOR CBS4, Return to Haiti. The compelling story of two women and their challenge to stay in South Florida also included gripping footage from Haiti.
– Newspaper/Breaking News: Staff, The Miami Herald, “A Tragic End for Teele.’’ Comprehensive, thorough, well-written and sensitive account of a breaking news event.
– Newspaper/Business: Harriet Johnson Brackey, The Miami Herald, “The Common Esos.’’ The report focused on a cultural tradition of the Haitian immigrant community and nonstandard ways of saving money, called Esos.
– Newspaper/Community Impact: Staff, The Miami Herald, “Liberty City 25 Years Later.’’ An entry that includes profiles, retrospectives and dreams of making the Liberty City section of Miami a better place to live and work, 25 years after the devastating Arthur McDuffie riots.
– Newspaper/Enterprise: Rebecca Wakefield, Miami New Times,“ In The Shadow of New Towers.’’ A story of transition and transformation in Overtown, a Miami community being bombarded by pressure to change as the property values skyrocket out of reach of its traditional residents.
– Newspaper/Features: Nancy Ancrum, The Miami Herald, “The Cultural Kitchen.’’ Ancrum’s, “The Cultural Kitchen” is sometimes historical, sometimes biographical as she weaves her culinary legacy of the African diaspora in South Florida.
– Newspaper/Profile: Francisco Alvarado, Miami New Times, “Santa: A Man on the Street.’’ This piece showed the various dimensions of a homeless man, who had a taste for hookers and was no fan of Miami Cops. The man also kept a shrine for a murdered child and performed numerous acts of kindness. A well-documented excellent piece of journalism.

Beverly Counts Rodrigues, director of media relations at Miami Dade College and a former president of the association, was the emcee for the event. The luncheon’ s entertainment was provided by Bemol, a South Florida-based smooth jazz ensemble.

“As our contest continues to grow, we would like to thank everyone who entered, because doing so sends a strong message that you take seriously your vow to cover every single community in this region,” said Terence Shepherd, president of the South Florida Black Journalists Association.

SFBJA also introduced winners of its scholarships for the upcoming academic year. This year's Rochelle Bridges Memorial Scholarship winners are 2006 graduates Alexandra Gratereaux, Miami Beach High School, and Mikaela McIntosh, of Turner Tech High School in Northwest Miami-Dade County. Gratereaux will receive $1,500 to help defray costs when she enrolls at Long Island University. McIntosh, who plans to attend Valdosta State University in Georgia, will receive $1,000. The recipient of SFBJA’s scholarship at Florida International University was Kenid Joseph. The junior broadcast journalism major will receive $1,000.

“The chapter plans on introducing more scholarships next year to help defray the skyrocketing cost of college at South Florida’s other universities, including University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University, Broward Community College and Miami Dade College,” Shepherd said.

The luncheon also featured a silent auction to help fund its scholarships. Sold to the highest bidders: a portrait of Grammy award winner Israel “Cachao” Lopez donated by Miami Herald photographer Carl Juste; an autographed Miami Heat basketball; and two pairs of passes to this year’s American Black Film Festival, which will be held in Miami Beach.

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