NABJ Announces Convention Chairs As It Prepares to Head to Chicago in July 

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is gearing up for the 2024 Convention & Career Fair in Chicago this summer, from July 31–August 4, 2024. This year’s theme is “Winds of Change: Journalism Over Disinformation.” Convention information, including registration, events, the career fair, and the host hotel, can be found at NABJConvention.com. Use the hashtag #NABJ24 to follow updates on social media.

NABJ President Ken Lemon has named three award-winning journalists with Chicago connections as convention co-chairs this year. They are NABJ’s 2019 Journalist of the Year and Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, NABJ’s 2021 Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement honoree and special contributor to NBC 5 News Art Norman, and Immediate Past President and CBS2 Chicago Investigator Dorothy Tucker.

Helping to guide this year’s convention programming are returning program co-chairs Tia Mitchell, NABJ Political Task Force Chair and Washington correspondent for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and former NABJ Treasurer Glenn Rice, an investigative reporter for The Kansas City Star. Both are celebrated for their insightful reporting on the issues of the day.

“We are excited about the impact that this year’s convention will have on the journalism and communications industries alike,” said President Lemon. “As we head to the historic city of Chicago, this year’s convention theme also pays homage to the founding Black Chicagoans who told their own truth and chartered their course. We are also grateful to have the combined talent, historic knowledge, and longevity of our convention co-chairs and program chairs to help us plan an unforgettable convention.”

About Karen Attiah

Attiah is a columnist for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2014 as a digital producer in the Opinions section. Attiah often writes on issues relating to race, gender, and international politics, with a special interest in Africa. Previously, she reported as a freelancer for the Associated Press while based in the Caribbean. 

Attiah was the winner of the 2019 George Polk Award and was named the 2019 Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists. Her honors and awards also include the 2019 Harriet Beecher Stowe Freedom Writer Award; The Root 100’s 2019 List; Essence Magazine’s “Woke 100” list in 2019; and the 2018 NABJ Salute to Excellence Award for Digital Commentary.

About Art Norman

Art Norman is a special contributor to NBC 5 News. His “Making a Difference” segments feature extraordinary people making a difference in their communities across the Chicago area. He also co-hosts “Tech Trends” segments with NBC 5’s Charlie Wojciechowski. In 2021, he was honored by the National Association of Black Journalists with the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award. Norman is a frequent NBC 5 News ambassador, making appearances at many community events. Norman came to NBC 5 News as a general assignment reporter in July 1982 from WMAR-TV in Baltimore.

Most recently, he received an Emmy Award for his contribution to NBC 5’s coverage of the Chicago Auto Show special. He has also won Emmys for his spot-news coverage of the Fox River Grove bus crash. His series “Cops and Robbers,” which uncovered secret files on police officers with criminal records, was honored with two prestigious awards: a national Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and a 1992–93 Associated Press Award for “Best Investigative Reporting.”

About Dorothy Tucker

Dorothy Tucker is a Chicago native raised in Chicago’s Lawndale and Austin communities. She has been a reporter for CBS2 Chicago since 1984. Currently, she is a reporter on the station’s 2 Investigator team and the immediate past President of the National Association of Black Journalists. Tucker is a local board member of NABJ-Chicago. She is a former board member of the Northwestern Alumni Association and a current member of the Northwestern University Leadership Circle.

Tucker has been honored numerous times throughout her career. In 2022, she won the Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership from the News Leaders Association. In 2021, she won two regional Edward R. Murrow awards and was part of the news team that won a national Murrow for overall excellence. Tucker is also the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Association of Journalists. She has won several local Emmys, including a 2021 Emmy for her report on “Eviction Moratorium Leaving Landlords Homeless.”

About Tia Mitchell

Tia Mitchell is the Washington correspondent for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, covering national politics for a Georgia audience. She also shares her political expertise on CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, News Nation, NPR, and many other national and international news outlets. Mitchell is a co-host of the AJC’s Politically Georgia radio show and podcast and a fill-in host for C-SPAN’s flagship call-in morning show, Washington Journal.

Before joining the AJC, Mitchell spent her career in Florida with the Tampa Bay Times and The Florida Times-Union newspapers, where she covered local, state, and national politics. Since 2019, Mitchell has served as chairwoman of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Political Task Force, and she has held the title of programming co-chair for NABJ national conventions since 2022. She is also active in her local NABJ chapter, the Washington Association of Black Journalists, and is Secretary of the Washington Press Club Foundation Board of Directors.

About Glenn E. Rice

Glenn E. Rice has been a reporter for The Kansas City Star since 1988. He is currently an investigative reporter, covering government accountability, law enforcement, and the legal system. He is a past president of the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists.

Rice has served as programming co-chair for NABJ national conventions since 2022. Prior to that, Rice was appointed chairman of the association’s elections committee in 2011, and he was a previous member of the NABJ finance committee. Rice served as the national treasurer for the National Association of Black Journalists. Before that, he was elected as the former Region 8 director.