Sarah A. Miller 

The Tyler Morning Telegraph’s Chief Photographer Sarah Miller was announced as a winner in the 35th annual Barbara Jordan Media Awards for media content. 

The Texas Governor’s Committee on People With Disabilities announced the winners Wednesday. 

Miller’s photojournalism work at the Lufkin State Supported Living Center in the 2017 article “Sheltering the Silent” was chosen by a panel of judges, including journalists, professionals in the field of disabilities and Texans with disabilities.

Miller and the other winners will be honored during a Thursday, April 26 ceremony hosted by Texas State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication. 

Other winners include 

Broadcast Entertainment:

Quintin Blackwell, Dan Stricklin, Kelli Phillips, and Bob Phillips for Texas Country Reporter

Love Hears

Broadcast Feature:

David Chancellor, WOAI-TV, News 4 San Antonio

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

Print Feature:

David Burge, El Paso Times

Sports help wounded warriors move forward, heal

Print News:

Brentney Hamilton, The Dallas Morning News

Meet the best friends and first residents in a special-needs community for adults in D-FW

Print Lifestyle/Entertainment:

Suzanne Garofalo, Houston Chronicle

He’s got the chops

Print Commentary:

Emily Goldstein, freelance writer for The Dallas Morning News

How electroconvulsive therapy eased my depression and returned me to my life

Radio:

Paul Flahive, Texas Public Radio, San Antonio

Virtual reality sharks nab professor $240,000 grant

College Student:

Richard Marmolejo, The Collegian, Hurst

Theater instructor turns diagnosis into artwork

College Student – Honorable Mention:

Amanda Heileman, The University Star, Texas State University

What students with wheelchairs experience on campus

Book:

Editors Sheila Black, Annabelle Hayse and Michael Northen, Cinco Puntos Press, El Paso

The Right Way to be Crippled & Naked: The Fiction of Disability

Children’s Book:

Julie Coy Maniér, author; Grant Maniér, illustrator, Houston

Grant the Jigsaw Giraffe: Different is More!

Since 1982, the Barbara Jordan Media Awards, created by the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities, has served the purpose of recognizing and honoring print, broadcast, and internet media professionals and students who accurately and respectfully report on individuals with disabilities, using People First language and positive portrayals. Because the media has an integral role in shaping public perceptions, the awards are meant to raise awareness within the journalism profession and among the public.

The awards are named in honor of Barbara Jordan, a Houston native and U.S. Congresswoman who gained recognition and a place of honor in history. She was known as a remarkable orator who broke barriers and built bridges. Jordan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and served for one day in 1972 as the Governor of Texas (both Governor Preston Smith and Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes were out of state). In 1973, Jordan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and eventually began to use a cane and then a wheelchair. Jordan passed away in 1996.

For more information on the awards ceremony, please contact the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities at (512) 463-5739.