By Marianne Fulton
AUSTIN, TX (May 23, 2007) –Dirck Halstead was recently going through his mail and opened an envelope from the Journalism School at the University of Missouri. He was astonished to read:
“I am delighted to inform you that the faculty of the Missouri School of Journalism has voted to award you the 2007 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service In Journalism. The medal, given since 1930, is the highest honor the School of Journalism bestows.”
From R. Dean Mills, dean of the School of Journalism, the letter went on to say that Halstead would be joining an elite group of prior recipients. These include Christiana Amanpour, Tom Brokaw, Sir Winston Churchill, Joseph Costa, Walter Cronkite, Donna Ferrato, Molly Ivins, Gordon Parks, Daniel Schorr, Maggie Steber, and Helen Thomas.
The University of Missouri’s School of Journalism and their photojournalism program are well known around the world and their graduates occupy and have occupied some of the top positions in the field. Founded in 1908, the Journalism School was the first. The university is also known for the work of Cliff Edom, who began the Missouri Workshop, Pictures of the Year, and Kappa Alpha Mu.
Halstead was chosen by the school’s faculty on the basis of his lifetime achievements and distinguished service to the profession. He will receive a bronze medal inscribed with his name.
Halstead is the editor and publisher of The Digital Journalist. At the age of 17, he became Life magazine's youngest combat photographer covering the Guatemalan Civil War. After college he went to work for UPI for more than 15 years, covering stories around the world. In 1972 he accepted a contract from Time magazine, and for the next 29 years covered the White House for them. In 1992 he played an instrumental part in the formation of Video News International (VNI), which started what is now the Platypus movement, allowing still photojournalists to cross the barrier between print and television. He is now a senior fellow in photojournalism at the Center For American History at the University of Texas.
Halstead was also the recipient of the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his coverage of the fall of Saigon, and two Eisies. In 2002 he received the lifetime achievement award from the White House News Photographers Association, and in 2004 he was honored with NPPA’s highest honor, the Joseph A. Sprague Award for lifetime achievement and service to photojournalism.
