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It’s a big day at Lippmann House — the new class of Nieman Fellows arrived this morning, to begin their year at Harvard. And a special year it is. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism turns 75 in September. To celebrate, Storyboard is launching two series to run between now and the end of next month. In Featured Fellow, we’ll showcase some of the Nieman alumni who have distinguished themselves in narrative journalism and other artful storytelling forms. And for Storyboard 75, we’ve compiled the 75 best Storyboard essays, annotations, Q-and-As, and more. Look for the Featured Fellow series to start Thursday, and Storyboard 75 in September.
The foundation has long recognized excellent writing as a cornerstone of powerful journalism. Our commitment to fine storytelling is embodied in the Nieman Narrative program, comprised of our in-house writing workshop and speaker series, and of this site, Storyboard, in which we explore narrative across platforms. The foundation draws on its history of decorated writers: Niemans have won Pulitzers* and National Magazine Awards** in feature writing, the category that honors literary storytelling, and are well represented among Pulitzer honorees in the writing-centric categories of books† and columns.††
Stay tuned for these features, and for a detailed introduction to the Class of 2014 and their work. As always, thanks for reading.
*Buzz Bissinger (finalist, 1982); Rick Bragg (winner, 1996); Madeleine Blais (winner, 1980; finalist, 1981); Anne Hull (finalist, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2005; winner, Public Service, 2008); Alex Jones (finalist, 1987); Julia Keller (winner, 2005); J.R. Moehringer (winner, 2000; finalist, 1998); Amy Ellis Nutt (winner, 2011; finalist 2009); Mary Schmich (finalist, 2006); Gene Weingarten (winner 2008, 2010)
**Buzz Bissinger (finalist, 2008); Darcy Frey (winner, 1994); Steve Oney (finalist, profile writing, 2008); Paige Williams (winner, 2008; finalist, 2011; shared finalist, 2009)
†Robert Caro (winner, 1975, 2003, Biography or Autobiography); A.B. Guthrie Jr. (winner, 1950, Fiction); Stanley Karnow (winner, 1990, History); J. Anthony Lukas (winner, 1986, General Nonfiction; finalist, 1998, History); Dale Maharidge (winner, 1990, General Nonfiction); Gene Roberts (winner, 2007, History)
††Ellen Goodman (winner, 1980); Eileen McNamara (winner, 1997); Mary Schmich (winner, 2012; finalist, 2011); Tommy Tomlinson (finalist, 2005); Cynthia Tucker (winner, 2007; finalist, 2004, 2006); William Woo (finalist, 1991)