Dillon native Jerry McCormick recently received two prestigious awards from the National Association of Black Journalists during its annual convention in Las Vegas, Aug. 3-7.
McCormick is a 1986 graduate of Dillon High School and attended Benedict College in Columbia, S.C.
He received the LGBTQ+ Visibility Award for his work in establishing a task force within NABJ more than two decades ago. The task force works to ensure LGBTQ+ members are welcomed in the organization and that media coverage is fair and balanced about that community.
He also received the President’s Award which is the group’s highest honor for members who go above and beyond for the organization. In 2021. McCormick founded the NABJ HBCU Initiative which encouraged NABJ members who attended historically black colleges and universities to give back to their schools and work to help journalists of color to enter the field. In February 2022, the group under McCormick’s leadership held an “HBCYOU Training Day” where major companies such CBS News, Spectrum, Cox, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McClatchy Newspapers, and more donated time and money to help train the next generation of journalists.
NABJ was founded in 1974 and is the largest organization for journalists of color with nearly 5,000 members worldwide.
McCormick works as a Senior Public Information Officer for the City of San Diego which is the nation’s eighth largest city and the second largest in California. Before that he worked as a television news producer having won an Emmy in 2014. McCormick spent nearly 20 years working as a newspaper copy editor for papers such as The State in Columbia, S.C., and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
He also teaches part-time as an adjunct professor at San Diego State University teaching broadcast and print writing.
He is the son of the late Willie and Rosie Lee McCormick.