Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Communications
Bill Rose, who for six years has led student reporting ventures for the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi, has been selected as the Samuel S. Talbert Silver Em award recipient for 2015.
The award dates to 1958. Recipients must be Mississippians with notable journalism careers or journalists with notable careers in Mississippi – or both, which is the case with Rose, who was born and grew up in Shelby. It is the university’s highest award for journalism, named for a chairman who, as it happens, was one of Rose’s instructors.
“Bill Rose is an exceptional talent who has spent much of his career writing with exceptional clarity and helping others write well,” said Will Norton Jr., dean of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. “The Meek School has been blessed to have a person of his talent and self-effacing integrity teaching our students.”
After graduating from Ole Miss in 1969, Rose returned to the Delta, working for the Bolivar Commercial in Cleveland and later as a reporter for the Delta Democrat-Times in Greenville. During this time, he was also a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves in Greenwood.
In 1975, Rose moved to Florida, where he worked for the next 34 years. As a Miami Herald reporter, he exposed a garbage scandal that led to a grand jury investigation of organized crime’s influence on Palm Beach County government.
His next role was as chief of the Atlanta bureau, responsible for the coverage of several major stories in the South, including the Atlanta child murders. There, he won the Paul Hansell Award for the best work by a Florida journalist, for a collection of stories about the South: everything from possum rustlers to race riots to rock-ribbed gubernatorial politics. He also covered presidential politics across the South.
For the next five years, he rose through the ranks of day city editor, urban affairs editor, deputy city editor and national editor before becoming editor of Tropic, the Herald’s Sunday magazine, which won two Pulitzers during his tenure.
Rose moved to the positions of metro editor of The Palm Beach Post, then deputy managing editor and eventually managing editor of the 220-person staff from 2004 until 2009. During that time, he formed an investigative unit that led to indictment and prison sentences for several local officials. The Post also received two Robert F. Kennedy Awards for exposing migrant slavery abuses that forced changes in state law.
His transition to the university has been as a visiting professor in the Meek School as well as a fellow of the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics.
“Bill Rose has had so many dream jobs in journalism and did them superbly,” said Charles Overby, for whom the center is named. “He is the master at blending excellence, high expectations and affability. I was privileged to work with him while we were students on the Daily Mississippian nearly 50 years ago, and I am blessed to work with him today at the Overby Center.”
Since the school was founded in 2009, Rose has led six Depth Reporting classes, resulting in six publications on topics ranging from the declining population of Greenville to the effect of the Voting Rights Act in the Mississippi Delta. One of the magazines, “The Roads of Broken Dreams,” received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for college journalism. Student work in another received a Hearst Prize, which is the college equivalent of a Pulitzer.
“Bill Rose distinguished himself as a top-notch reporter and editor at the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post, and continues to contribute to journalism today through his leadership with the award-winning, depth-reporting magazines produced by his Ole Miss students,” said Curtis Wilkie, senior Overby Fellow who also worked in the Mississippi Delta before a national and international career in journalism, mostly with The Boston Globe.
Rose’s wife, Susan, is also an Ole Miss graduate. They have two children and two grandchildren.
The Silver Em, which is the university’s highest award for journalism, will be presented at an April 6 banquet in the Overby Center at Ole Miss, starting at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited, but reservations may be made by contacting Paula Hurdle at 662-915-7146 or pchurdle@olemiss.edu.
The Meek School of Journalism and New Media was founded in 2009, funded with an endowment gift by Ed and Becky Meek. It offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in both journalism and integrated marketing communications on the Oxford campus and in coordination with satellite campuses. Because of the increasing variety of media careers, enrollment continues to rise in the Meek School, where almost 1,400 undergraduate journalism and IMC majors hone their skills.
PREVIOUS SILVER EM HONOREES
1958 – George W. Healy Jr.
1959 – Turner Catledge
1960 – Kenneth Toler
1961 – John Oliver Emmerich
1963 – George McLean
1964 – William B. Street
1965 – Purser Hewitt
1966 – Hal C. DeCell
1967 – Paul Pittman
1968 – Hodding Carter Jr.
1969 – Willie Morris
1970 – T.M. Hederman Jr.
1971 – Joseph R. Ellis
1972 – Wilson F. Minor
1973 – Mark F. Ethridge
1975 – H.L. Stevenson
1976 – William Raspberry
1977 – Joe L. Albritton
1978 – James A. Autry
1979 – James Nelson
1980 – Mary-Lynn Kotz
1981 – Curtis Wilkie
1982 – Harold Burson
1983 – John O. Emmerich
1984 – Hazel Brannon Smith
1985 – Charles Overby
1986 – W.C. “Dub” Shoemaker
1987 – Charles Dunagin (2)
– Larry Speakes (2)
1988 – Edward Fritts
1989 – Rudy Abramson
1990 – Hodding Carter III
1991 – James L. McDowell
1992 – Rheta Grimsley Johnson
1993 – Dan Goodgame
1994 – Robert Gordon
1995 – Jere Hoar
1996 – Gregory Favre
1997 – Stephanie Saul
1998 – Lerone Bennett
2000 – Jerry Mitchell
2001 – Bert Case
2002 – Ira Harkey
2003 – Jim Abbott
2005 – Otis Sanford
2006 – Dan Phillips
2007 – Stanley Dearman
2008 – Ronnie Agnew
2009 – Stan Tiner
2010 – Terry Wooten
2011 – Patsy Brumfield
2012 – Greg Brock
2013 – W. Randall Pinkston
2014 – Fred Anklam Jr.
2015 – Bill Rose
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