The ADL Bess Myerson Campus Journalism Awards

These awards are given to student journalists and publications from American colleges and universities who have demonstrated excellence in published reportage and commentary in the field of intergroup relations. The ADL Bess Myerson Campus Journalism Award competition seeks to encourage campus journalists to think critically about issues of interracial, interethnic, intercultural and interreligious relations and communications and to express their ideas on these topics in a sensitive and insightful manner.

The Award was established through a generous donation from Ms. Bess Myerson. Soon after becoming the first Jewish woman to be awarded the title of Miss America in 1945, Ms. Myerson began an ADL-sponsored speaking tour entitled "You Can't Be Beautiful and Hate," touring high schools and college campuses throughout the country to encourage the values of goodwill and understanding among people of all religious, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Her concern over today's rising racial and religious tensions on college and university campuses led her to endow this Award for campus journalists whose news coverage addresses these issues. This national campus journalism competition was initially piloted as a New York City project.

The late journalist and commentator Eric Breindel, who served as a judge for this competition in 1995, said: "On American campuses today, the question of intergroup relations has tended to be monopolized by those who can shout the loudest and the longest. The entrants and winners in this competition have shown a willingness to tackle these issues with the seriousness they both deserve and demand--without either sugar-coating them or pandering to one side or the other."

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