Youth Journalism International’s executive director, Jackie Majerus, will be inducted next month into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Majerus was nominated for the honor by 16 current and former students who hailed her work over the years as both a journalist for several daily newspapers and the top editor for the educational news nonprofit she founded and nurtured.
“During a decades-long period when New England’s newspapers were paring back or shutting down – and journalists everywhere worried about the profession’s future – Jackie Majerus did something remarkable,” they said. “She never lost faith in the power of good journalism.”
Majerus is one of three honorees this year. The others are Steve Milone of the North of Boston Media Group and Lawrence ‘Poody’ Walsh of the Eagle Times in Claremont, New Hampshire.
“These three individuals have left fingerprints all over New England’s newsrooms — in the stories they’ve told, the audiences they’ve built and the young reporters they’ve mentored,” said Linda Conway, executive director of NENPA.
The regional hall of fame has honored more than 100 people over the years for their “talent, hard work, and exceptional accomplishments” in the New England states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Majerus created what became YJI in 1994 along with her husband, Steve Collins, while she worked as an award-winning reporter for The Bristol Press, a daily newspaper in Connecticut. YJI has been based in Auburn, Maine for the past decade.
One of YJI’s students, Norah Springborn in Illinois, called Majerus “the backbone of Youth Journalism International,” adding that “she has dedicated her career, expertise, and energy in order to enable each new generation of students to speak up as well as listen close to those around the world.”
Majerus has mentored young writers throughout New England but also in scores of countries around the globe, her students noted, and published more than 750 young reporters and photographers – and educated many others.
“Jackie takes the time to converse with each and every student to learn about who they are and their personal story,” Springborn said. “No one goes unnoticed in YJI thanks to Jackie.”
Anya Farooqui, a YJI student in Pakistan, said Majerus “is not just kind, she is also incredibly smart and hard-working. She works tirelessly to edit pieces and always explains these in a way that is not demeaning but is instead uplifting.”
“Jackie has helped give a voice to students around the world, including me,” Farooqui said. “Thanks to her work in YJI, I was able to express myself in a way that I couldn’t have without her. She has also made it possible for me to meet so many people from all corners of the globe.”
“All of these events, meetings, and advice from Jackie would not be possible without her continued drive to improve the world by aiding each student to find their personal identity and voice. The work done by Jackie is not just special – it is a gift to each YJI student aiding this next generation of journalists,” Springborn said.
Another student, Annamika Konkola of Oregon, said, “I am just one of hundreds of people who will say she’s been one of the single biggest positive influences in our lives. There are hundreds of writers around the world whose lives and writing have been changed because Jackie refused to give up on journalism’s future.”
In their nomination letter, students noted Majerus had been a professional reporter for a quarter century, mostly for The Bristol Press in Connecticut.
“In that time, covering stories about everything from a fraudulent bail bondsman to the explosive growth of ESPN, she won many first-place writing awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists, the New York State Bar Association, the New York Newspaper Publisher’s Association and the New York State Associated Press,” they said.
“It’s a job she might still be doing except that she quit The Bristol Press after discovering the paper’s owner cut a secret deal with the local hospital to hide a potentially damaging story. That courageous, principled stand took place in 2011.
“It was also the moment when she decided to devote all of her time, as a volunteer, to YJI and its students. She figured that’s how she could do the most for journalism and, really, for the world,” the students said.
Joe Killian, a YJI alum who works as an editor for The Assembly in North Carolina, said that when Majerus “looks around her and sees what began with a handful of Connecticut teenagers now flourishing as an international group of young people dedicated to her dream, I can see in her eyes and hear in her voice the enormous gratification. But, because it’s Jackie, I can also sense something else – anticipation of what’s to come and the desire to do more and do it better.”
Majerus, who grew up in the Midwest and studied journalism at The University of Iowa, will be formally inducted at a March 13 dinner in Portsmouth, New Hampshire during the annual conference of the New England Newspaper & Press Association.
