• Minnesota Attorney General Keith M. Ellison and National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO Ben F. Chavis, Jr. point to a St. Louis American photographer and make sure that the publishers on stage, some NNPA exec. committee and NNPA Fund board members, holler to St. Louis shortly after Ellison gave the keynote presentation, “Ending the Cycle of Police Violence in America.”  Left to right:  Janis L. Ware (The Atlanta Voice), Jackie Hampton (The Mississippi Link), Karen Carter Richards (Houston Forward Times),  Rosetta Miller-Perry (The Tennessee Tribune), Keith M. Ellison, Ben F. Chavis, Jr., Cheryl Smith (Texas Metro News) and Terry Jones (New Orleans Data Weekly).  

  • Family and friends catch up at the NNPA Fund 2023 Messenger Awards Dinner on Thurs., June 29, 2023:  Thomas Watkins (left), publisher of New York Daily Challenge group, Steve Larkin (center), NNPA national advertising consultant and Kerri Watkins (right), associate publisher of New York Daily Challenge group. 

  • The Sacremento Observer won the John Russwurm award this year for their accumulation of Messenger Awards, and The Observer Publisher Larry Lee won publisher of the year, at the NNPA Fund 2023 Messenger Awards Dinner on June 29, 2023. 

  • 2023 NNPA Legacy Award recipient Justin B. Jones, Tennessee House of Representatives, (52nd District) one of the “2023 Tennessee Three” had his picture taken with numerous attendees to the 2023 NNPA National Legacy Awards Gala Dinner, including St. Louis American Digital Director Dawn Suggs.

    Justin J. Pearson, Tennessee House of Representatives, (86th District), the other Black member of the “Tennessee Three” was also honored with an NNPA Legacy Award Thursday evening, but was unable to attend.  Both young state representatives were expelled from the state legislature after joining a protest against gun violence in the Tennessee State Capitol, during a legislative session, days after the 2023 Covenant School shooting which left three nine-year old students and three adults dead.  Both Pearson and Jones were reinstated as state representatives through interim appointments, after local protests and national outcry against their expulsion reached a fever pitch, but they must still face special elections for their positions.

  • On the Sat., July 2, 2023, the final day of the 2023 NNPA National Convention, the newly-elected executive committee and NNPA Fund board and committee members were sworn in on stage by  Tennessee Judge Stephanie Williams (l to r):  Karen Carter Richards, Calvin Anderson, Judge Williams, Rod Doss, Brenda Andrews, Ben F. Chavis, Jr., Bobby R. Henry, Sr., Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper, Jackie Hampton, Cheryl Smith, Fran Farrer and Janis L. Ware.  

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