2016 Honors Will Go to Ina Fried and LZ Granderson
NLGJA, The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, is pleased to announce that two new inductees will be enrolled in the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame this fall at the association’s 24th annual convention.
This year’s Hall of Fame honorees will be Ina Fried and LZ Granderson.
Leroy Aarons founded NLGJA in 1990, pioneering a watershed movement in journalism and newsrooms throughout the nation. Following his death in 2005, the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame was launched to set apart remarkable individuals like Aarons and to tell their stories.
Until this year, the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame has honored 34 men and women and continues to endure. These are individuals, living and deceased, who have left a lasting mark on the profession – through their own courage, by blazing trails and through their dedication to the practice of journalism.
In 2016, NLGJA honors these outstanding, new Hall of Fame Inductees:
- Ina Fried is one of the nation’s top tech journalists, currently writing for Recode, while frequently covering and commenting on technology news on CNBC, National Public Radio, and a host of broadcast, online and print media. Her current beat focuses on, as she puts it, “wireless issues and devices, including tablets, smartphones and even some phones of average intelligence.” Before her current role, she spent a decade at CNET. Her reporting has spanned several continents, two genders and covering some of the top stories in her field including the Hewlett-Packard-Compaq merger, Bill Gates’ transition from software pioneer to philanthropist and interviewing Steve Jobs while covering the iPhone location tracking controversy. She has served on the NLGJA board of directors including her leadership role as Vice President of Print. As a recipient of numerous journalism awards, in 2014 Fried also was named to the Advocate’s list of the nation’s top 50 Most Influential LGBT People in Media.
- LZ Granderson today is considered the nation’s most visible, openly gay sports journalist and has been out his entire professional career while working exclusively within mainstream media. He is currently an ESPN senior writer for The Undefeated and regular contributor to SportsNation, Around the Horn, and Outside the Lines, while also a tennis analyst and reporter at Wimbledon and the US Open. He is a regular ABC News contributor to GMA, This Week and Nightline, in addition to co-hosting ABC News’ first digital show Strait Talk and this year co-anchored ABC News digital coverage of the RNC and DNC. Prior to joining ABC, his unique observations on the intersections of athletics, race, identity, culture, LGBT issues and politics made him a popular CNN columnist and contributor to Erin Burnett OutFront, Newsroom with Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper 360. Prior to ESPN, Granderson was a reporter for such publications as The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The South Bend Tribune, and The Grand Rapids Press. Outside of newsrooms, has previously served as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University and a Resident Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. LZ Granderson was honored by GLAAD and NLGJA for his outstanding journalism in years past, in 2012, Granderson was named NLGJA’s Journalist of the Year.
NLGJA is the leading professional organization for LGBTQ journalists with 22 chapters nationwide, as well as members around the globe. Inductees will be honored at this year’s national convention to be held in South Beach Miami, Florida, September 8 -11, 2016. More information is available at: www.nlgja.org/2016/.
See www.nlgja.org/awards/nlgja-hall-of-fame/ to learn more about these celebrated individuals like Roy Aarons, Sarah Pettit, Marlon Riggs, “Lisa Ben,” Armistead Maupin, and others who have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
About NLGJA – The Association of LGBTQ Journalists
NLGJA is an organization of journalists, media professionals, educators and students working from within the news industry to foster fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ issues. NLGJA opposes all forms of workplace bias and provides professional development to its members. For more information, visit www.nlgja.org.
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