VANN SPECIAL HONOREES

The Vann awards special honorees were created in 2009 to celebrate the history and impact of institutions and people in Western Pennsylvania who have made outstanding contributions to media or the creation of communications platforms or messages that champion inclusion, belonging, engagement and excellence.

THE COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award recognizes that the journalist or organization who receives this award is someone whose purpose or mission elevates the history and culture of Africana people. The honoree is recognized for “how” they communicate the value and the significance of Black lives.

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

This award recognizes an individual or organization who are enterprising trendsetters who break barriers in traditional media or forge new messages on how we understand and should care for each other.

THE LEGACY AWARD

This award recognizes an organization or an individual who for decades has made communications in western Pennsylvania a more inclusive enterprise. These media veterans have inspired others with their impressive work and dedication to truth, accuracy and fairness.

ELAINE EFFORT COMMUNITY CHAMPION AWARD

The Elaine Effort Community Champion Award acknowledges the messages of empowerment, strength and hope that are core parts of an organization's or individual's community service work. Each of these traits were also core parts of the character of Mrs. Effort, a founder of PBMF and an award-winning radio journalist and community leader.

VANN 2026

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Dr. Edda Fields-Black is honored for her work and community service. Most recently, her work received national recognition with the Pulitzer Prize being awarded for Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War. Through this landmark book and her broader body of work, she has illuminated overlooked histories, centered Black experiences with rigor and humanity, and made complex narratives accessible to broad audiences.

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Ashley “Brotha Ash” Woodson for his media production which has strengthened the community’s voice and expanded how stories are told. His

work, for more than two decades, has created platforms that amplify Black culture, history, entertainment and lived experience—using media not only as a tool for expression, but as a vehicle for healing, empowerment, and collective uplift.

LEGACY AWARD

Aubrey Bruce began his career as a freelance writer with the New Pittsburgh Courier in 1979 and continued through the decades to become a senior sports columnist. He has shaped how generations of readers understand sports, leadership and the role of athletics in civic life.

ELAINE EFFORT COMMUNITY CHAMPION

A Second Chance, Inc., under your leadership of Dr. Sharon McDaniel, is recognized for an unwavering commitment to strengthening families, supporting kinship caregivers, and advocating for children and communities in crisis. The nonprofit’s work reflects a deep belief in dignity, opportunity, and compassion.

Vernard Alexander is recognized for his decades-long commitment to community engagement, equity, and public service—particularly his work building authentic partnerships between institutions and neighborhoods. He has helped expand opportunity, elevate marginalized voices, and create pathways for meaningful civic participation.

Dollar Bank is recognized for its longstanding commitment to community development and historical preservation, particularly the institution’s work using archival materials and past ledgers to illuminate Pittsburgh’s social, political and economic history.

VANN 2025

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Emmai Alaquiva is an Emmy award-winning film director and photographer. He has worked with some of the world’s most notable icons from Harry Belafonte, Dr. Maya Angelou to Questlove and Viola Davis. One of Alaquiva’s latest projects is a feature documentary about Black and Brown infant mortality called ‘The Ebony Canal.”

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Ciora Thomas and her work with Sisters/P-G-H. which was founded in 2013. It is a Black and trans-led nonprofit that is dedicated to empowering transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive individuals, particularly those from Black and brown communities. Sisters/ P-G-H works to provide housing, safe spaces and to dismantle racism and transphobia. Because of its success in Pittsburgh, it recently established a sisters’ branch in Philadelphia.

LEGACY AWARD

Olga George is the former press secretary with the Office of the Mayor for the City of Pittsburgh, but she’s also a former KDKA-TV assignment editor and producer, a longtime advocate of New Horizons Theater and an independent producer with WQED. But another of her most important roles, for more than 20 years, has been her longtime leadership with PBMF’s Frank Bolden Urban Multimedia Workshop, where she has trained hundreds of youths in journalism, as a way to help them gain self-confidence and pride in their abilities.

ELAINE EFFORT COMMUNITY CHAMPION AWARD (inaugurated in 2025)

GIRL SCOUT TROOP #52208 – For years, Elaine Effort worked with young women in the girl scouts. Troop #52208 is located in Wilkinsburg –

it was founded only recently by Natajah Jones, a mother who wanted to provide a safe space for her daughter and other young girls in the community.

PITTSBURGH’S DR. CARTER G. WOODSON ACADEMY (operated by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity) - The academy is modeled after the noted historian’s challenge to the Black professional class. Almost 100 years ago, Dr. Woodson asked the Black professional class to provide an education to the community that would build Black people’s capacity for self-determination. This is the work that the academy has done for more than a dozen years. It provides historical, vocational and artistic instruction to young people to strengthen their awareness of Black history and to provide strategies for their collective betterment – today and in the future.

VANN 2024 (celebration year for PBMF’s 2023 50th anniversary)

LEGACY AWARD

Lou Ransom is a retired award-winning editor and journalist who for many years served as managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier and as a Community Editor/Editorial Page writer/business writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. His focus on community and mentorship made it possible for scores of Black journalists to find opportunities in local newsrooms.

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Mark Clayton Southers is the founder and producing artistic director of the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, where he has produced more than 160 full-length and one-act plays, including August Wilson’s complete 10-play Century Cycle. His work shares the message of the importance of diversity and inclusion to strengthening the community through the arts.

TRAILBLAZER

Cynthia Mendoza created Brown Mama Monologues, a project of theater and social engagement that aims to amplify the voices and concerns of Black and Brown mothers and supports the free expression and communication of underrepresented communities and ideas.

COMMUNITY CHAMPION AWARD

Future Kings Mentoring, a mentoring and self-development program began by three young adult Black males – Terrell Galloway, Sean Spencer and Isreal Williams – that aims to foster community uplift and cultivate the next generation of Black male leaders.

VANN 2023 – NO PROGRAM

VANN 2022

VIDEO LEGACY AWARD

Jonas Chaney served for many years as the public affairs director and sports anchor at WPXI-TV Channel 11. His focus on community allowed scores of Black events and organizations to promote their programs and initiatives.

VANN 2021—COVID YEAR/NO PROGRAM

VANN 2020

COMMUNICATOR OF YEAR

The Advanced Leadership Institute (TALI) is an executive development program that prepares African Americans to contribute more broadly to their organizations and the community. It is an innovation, spearheaded by founder Evan Frazier, that shares the message of the importance of diversity and inclusion to strengthening the community

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

The International Free Expression Project, founded and directed by journalist Greg Victor, is a project that reminds the world of the importance of protecting free expression and supporting the marketplace of ideas and artists

Marimba Milliones, president and CEO of the Hill Community Development Corp., is recognized for innovation in community uplift and for cultivating the next generation of community development professionals through the Hill CDC fellowship program

VANN 2019

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Vanessa German, an internationally recognized artist and innovator – from her Art House project in Homewood to her unique creations that explore issues of beauty, race, and cultural heritage – who has long shared the message that “art” matters

LEGACY AWARD

Billy Jackson, a national award-winning filmmaker and principal owner of NOMMO Productions, which has produced more that 50 documentaries, dramatic, and promotional films, many of which focus on equity and racial justice

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

1Hood Media, a collective of socially conscious artists and activists who use arts and culture, youth programming, and activism to promote social justice locally and globally

LITERACY CHAMPION

The Langston Poetry Society, a project that outreaches to local schools and communities and uses poetry to educate and raise consciousness on Black culture and society

VANN 2018

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Joyce Davis, executive director of the Lincoln Park Community Center, which inspires hope, operates a food pantry, and provides financial and health education to the vulnerable of Penn Hills

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Tony Norman, a pioneering Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist who was the first African American to serve on the newspaper’s editorial board

LITERACY CHAMPION

Bill Nunn August Wilson Monologue Competition, a project that provides underserved students in public schools access to theater arts and professional artists

LEGACY CHAMPION

Russell and Kathy Bynum, founders of Bynums Marketing, a marketing, design, and idea-generation firm

VANN 2017

LITERACY CHAMPION

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.’s Alpha Omicron Lambda chapter, for its literacy program at Dilworth Elementary School

LEGACY AWARD



Lynne Hayes-Freeland, award-winning broadcast journalist for a long and distinguished career at KDKA

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Dr. James and Pam Johnson, founders of the Afro American Music Institute

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Damon Young, co-founder of VerySmartBrothas.com

VANN 2016

LEGACY AWARD

Debbie Norrell for her distinguished and varied journalism and theatrical career, which includes local fashion and cultural commentary and national television and radio advertising.

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Lorena Amos Brock an educator who has founded or been involved with establishing a book club for teenage girls, for adult women and who’s been a champion of the United Black Book Clubs of Pittsburgh and other community activities to support reading and writing.

VANN 2015

LEGACY AWARD



Ty Miller, of American Urban Radio Networks

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Sonya Toler, principal spokesperson with the Pittsburgh Public Safety Department

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Eddie Jefferies, former sports editor, The New Pittsburgh Courier.

VANN 2014

LEGACY AWARD

Allen King for his distinguished and varied news career, which began in 1957 at WAMO radio. Over the course of 41 years, he was a producer, writer, and reporter with five Pittsburgh radio stations and two local television stations.

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Luther J. Sewell Jr. and Roxanne N. Sewell of the LJS Group, an enterprise more than 50 years old. LJS publishes Talk Magazine and hosts community events and initiatives, including the Pennsylvania African American Network Convention and the African American/Latino Roundtable

VANN 2013 (PBMF’s 40th anniversary year)

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Candi Castleberry-Singleton, chief inclusion and diversity officer with UPMC, will be honored as for her message of championing the value of diversity to regional development and quality of life.

LEGACY AWARD



Robert Hill, for lifetime achievement; Hill is former vice chancellor of public affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, who has a distinguished and varied career, which included public relations, writing, mentoring, and other distinctions.

ELDERS - the founders and/or original supporters of PBMF

Jean Bryant

Bryant, a former writer and reporter for the Pittsburgh Press and the Post-Gazette, joined the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation in 1973. That same year, Bryant established the Miss Black Teenage Pageant. In 1993, she created the Mister African American program. Bryant retired in 1999. Among other awards, she received the New Pittsburgh Courier’s Women of Excellence Award in 2008 and its Women of Excellence Legacy Award in 2012.

Dee Thompson

Thompson joined the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation in 1973 as a charter member. He founded the organization on the charge that “something had to be done with the representation of coverage and treatment of Black people in the media.” He was the organization’s first president, serving from 1970 to 1980. He held news reporter positions with WTAE-TV and WPXI-TV. Thompson now considers himself semi-retired, focusing his time on producing freelance football shows and movies.

Elaine Leaphart Effort

Effort joined the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation in 1973 as a charter member. From 1984 to 1989, Effort served in various leadership roles, including as vice president, secretary and treasurer. Since then, she has worked for KQV Radio as a news reporter and anchor. Effort often

volunteers as an instructor at PBMF’s annual Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop for teenagers.

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Frank B. Greenlee

Greenlee is a charter member of PBMF. Over the course of his radio career, he has worked as an announcer, music director, and operations manager. He has worked for stations WAMO/WYJZ, WMBA, and WCXJ and has been known as "The Big G" and "The Master." He is retired and spends his time sculpting, writing, and taking photography.

Mark Clayton Southers

Southers joined the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation in 1980. He worked as chief photographer at the New Pittsburgh Courier until 1992, when he became a heavy-equipment operator at United States Steel Corp. until 2010. He currently serves as artistic director for his Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co, now in its 11th season. Southers curated the photography exhibition of the work of the late Courier photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Christopher T. Moore

In 1982, Moore joined the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, and since then has served in almost every officer position. The bulk of his broadcast career in Pittsburgh has allowed him to serve as a producer/host of WQED-TV. But Moore also works for KDKA Radio and PCNC-TV. Many know Moore for his leadership role in PBMF’s Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop.

Edwina L. Kaikai

In 1983, Kaikai joined the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation. She was not only a charter member, but she also was the coordinator of the print component to PBMF’s Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop for teens. She is a former editor with the Pittsburgh Press and retired from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as an assistant managing editor.

Donald Hammonds

In 1984, Hammonds joined the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation. Soon, he helped to organize the workshop alongside Chris Moore. He worked as reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 1983 to 2010, during which time he became the first African American member of the paper’s editorial board. Hammonds also served as business writer and automotive editor for the paper. He has completed training as a reading and writing tutor for Pittsburgh Public Schools and plans to start his own reading and literacy program. Hammonds is completing seminary education at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and owns an automotive news website, automobilejournal.com.

VANN 2012

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS

Heinz Endowments for its African American Men and Boys Initiative, created in 2007 to identify and increase opportunities for African American men and boys in this region.

Chuck Sanders of Urban Lending Solutions for the creation of Chuck Sander’s Charities (CSC) to fund and support existing charities and youth programs, especially efforts aimed at preventing violence and initiatives that support education.

Elwin Green, an award-winning journalist for his citizen-journalist news website Homewood Nation (www.homewoodnation.com), an effort to unite and improve his community.

PNCBank for its Grow Up Great, a multi-year effort that uses art and financial literacy training to help prepare children – particularly underserved children – from birth to age 5 for success.

LEGACY AWARD

Ola Jackson with Onyx Woman magazine and her quarter-century media enterprise, OWN, which educates and empowers women.

VANN 2011

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Sylvester Pace CEO of the Negro Educational Emergency Drive (NEED), a steadfast college access program that provides financial aid to underrepresented, low-income college-bound youth



Larry Glasco, University of Pittsburgh, Professor of History who has researched, written, and lectured on African American life and history in Pittsburgh

LEGACY AWARD



Tene Croom, national award-winning journalist for her detailed and timely reports on the state of urban Black America

George E. Barbour, for his ground-breaking print and radio reporting in the Pittsburgh region beginning in the 1960s

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Donna Baxter, CEO of a minority media company that includes a community website and print magazine that promotes diversity and inclusion.

VANN 2010

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Iyana Tennon, Duquesne community charter school founder for her role at championing positive change in Western Pennsylvania.

LEGACY AWARD

Dee Thompson, one of the first Black men to work on-air for WPXI and a founder of PBMF.

VANN 2009

COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR



Janera Solomon has broad experience with artistic, educational and cultural programming. She co-curated the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival (2006 & 2007) and curated the “First Voice International Black Performing Arts Festival” produced by the August Wilson Center for African American Culture (Pittsburgh, 2007).

LEGEND AWARD

Catherine “Cathy” Milton, one of the first Black women to work in broadcast television in Pittsburgh. For nine-and-a-half-years, Milton co-hosted “AM Pittsburgh,” with Al McDowel and Lind Hines. The show was one of WTAE’s most popular. She had wide-ranging duties, included hosting the weekend news, noon news and the early morning news.