RTDNF Distinguished Service Award To Simpson

The Radio Television Digital News Foundation (RTDNF) today announced that Carole Simpson is the winner of the 2013 Col. Barney Oldfield Distinguished Service Award, which honors an individual who, through their own efforts, has contributed to the growth and success of RTDNF.

Simpson is a former member of the Radio Television Digital News Foundation Board of Trustees. She established the Carole Simpson Scholarship to encourage and help minority students overcome hurdles along their career path. Carole Simpson Scholarship winners are working as reporters, producers and anchors in television and radio stations across the country.

Simpson retired from ABC News in 2006 to become Leader-in-Residence at Emerson College’s School of Communications in Boston. In a career of notable firsts, in 1992 Simpson became the first woman and the first African-American to moderate a presidential debate. She is completing a book on her 40-year career.

In 1996, Simpson receive RTDNF’s Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award in recognition of her work to protect First Amendment Freedoms.

“We are delighted to recognize Carole Simpson for her dedication to the Foundation,” said Mike Cavender, RTDNF executive director. “Her encouragement and support of journalism students fosters a promising future for our profession.”

The award will be presented at Excellence in Journalism 2013, in Anaheim, Calif., Aug. 24-26.