KNBC reporter Beverly White says she couldn’t contain her excitement after learning she had been selected to receive the prestigious Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Association of Black Journalists.
“At first I thought [NABJ] President Sarah Glover was joking,” White told Urban Hollywood 411. “Then it sank in, and I wept.”
The award is named after Chuck Stone, the late columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and former Tuskegee Airman, who died in 2014.
“Chuck Stone was a legend for speaking truth to power and uplifting African Americans through his no-holds-barred storytelling,” White said. “I’ve been an NABJ member long enough to have heard Mr. Stone and several other founders. They taught me how well-chosen sources, words and images can make a difference.”
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White has been part of the KNBC news team for more than two decades. In 2017, NABJ-Los Angeles held a special reception in Pasadena, Calif. honoring her for 25 years of service at the television station.
During the celebration, she was presented with several proclamations, including one from Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson and another from Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
A three-time past president of NABJ-Los Angeles, White grew up in Killeen, Texas, and was the first person in her immediate family to finish college.
She attended the University of Texas at Austin, and was drawn to journalism because of its power to make a difference in people’s lives.
After graduation, she began her journalism career at NBC affiliate KCEN-TV in Temple/Waco.
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She has also previously worked at KENS-TV in San Antonio and WTVJ-TV, the NBC-owned station in Miami, where she was part of a team that won a 1992 Peabody Award for coverage of Hurricane Andrew.
“In Miami, I met my future husband when he brought a press release to my newsroom,” she said. “We just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.”
After Miami, she jumped to KNBC, the NBC-owned station in Los Angeles in 1992.
White and husband Xavier Higgs – also a former NABJ-Los Angeles president – rarely miss the organization’s annual convention, which is held in a different city each year.
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When asked how long she has been a member of the organization, White enthusiastically responded: “33 years!”
“I joined in 1985 as part of my registration for my first NABJ Convention in Dallas,” she explained.
White will receive her award at the Salute to Excellence gala during the NABJ Convention and Career Fair on Saturday, Aug. 4 in Detroit.
“I’ve always loved NABJ. And I’m deeply moved to know she loves me back,” she said.
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