Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame
The Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have rendered outstanding service in the field of newspaper journalism in Florida.
Nominations to the Hall of Fame are accepted any time, but the deadline for consideration in the current year is April 1. Learn how to submit a nomination.
| Name: | Inducted: | About: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Malcolm Johnson |
1990 |
Johnson had a 43-year newspaper career, with 41 of them spent in Tallahassee. During that time he worked for both the Tallahassee Democrat and the AP Capitol Bureau and became known as an expert on government, a champion for conservative individualism and an advocate of conservation. |
Read more about Malcolm Johnson |
 |
James Knight |
1990 |
Knight was born into a famous newspaper family and joined his father’s Akron Beacon Journal in 1931. He helped build one of the nation’s largest and most respected newspaper groups, Knight-Ridder Newspapers, with a daily circulation of 3.2 million in 33 U.S. cities, including dailies in Miami, Bradenton, Boca Raton and Tallahassee. |
Read more about James Knight |
 |
James Jesse |
1990 |
Jesse worked for newspapers and radio stations in Kentucky and Louisiana before moving to Florida in 1954. Between 1954 and 1978, he worked as a publisher in Florida for the Punta Gorda Herald, Boca Raton News, Cocoa TODAY and the Pensacola News Journal. |
Read more about James Jesse |
 |
David Lawrence, Sr. |
1990 |
Lawrence worked at the old New York Herald-Tribune in the late 1930s and then continued during the Second World War at the old New York Sun. He made his mark by covering politics and the profiteering connected with the war. |
Read more about David Lawrence, Sr. |
 |
Barbara Frye |
1990 |
Frye was 19 years old, just out of the University of Georgia and working in UPI’s Atlanta bureau when she was selected, in 1944, to run UPI’s Florida Bureau. |
Read more about Barbara Frye |
 |
Rae Weimer |
1990 |
Weimer is Dean Emeritus of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications and also a veteran newspaper journalist. In the 1920s, 30s and 40s, he was a reporter and editor at newspapers in Illinois, Ohio and New York. |
Read more about Rae Weimer |
 |
Nelson Poynter |
1989 |
Poynter was editor and publisher of the St. Petersburg Times from 1938 through 1978. He was a crusading journalist for good government and the rights of minorities and the poor and, through his example, elevated the standards for independent and innovative newspaper journalism. |
Read more about Nelson Poynter |
 |
Loyal Frisbie |
1989 |
Frisbie became the editor of the family-owned Polk County Democrat in Bartow in 1946. He maintained that position for 18 years and served as publisher for 17 years, receiving numerous awards for editorial leadership and outstanding service to his community and the newspaper industry. |
Read more about Loyal Frisbie |
 |
John Perry, Jr. |
1989 |
Perry was president and chairman of Perry Publications, Inc., and owned and operated 28 newspapers throughout Florida as well as the statewide All-Florida News Service and All-Florida Magazine, a Sunday newspaper supplement. |
Read more about John Perry, Jr. |
 |
John Paul Jones, Jr. |
1989 |
Jones was a newspaper reporter and editor for several newspapers and United Press International in his early newspaper career as well as a journalism professor at the University of Florida. |
Read more about John Paul Jones, Jr. |