The ACU Department of Journalism and Mass Communication will honor three distinguished alumni during the 26th annual Gutenberg Celebration.
The Gutenberg Celebration will take place in Hunter Welcome Center on Thursday, Oct. 11. A reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. with an awards presentation to follow at 7:45 p.m.
This year’s honorees are: Jonathan Smith (’06) of Washington, D.C.; Kim Sanders Lewis (’01) of Oklahoma City; and Ben Mankin (’98) of Franklin, Tennessee.
Jonathan Smith, Washington Post news service multiplatform editor, is a former journalism major with more than a decade of experience in the news media. In the past year, Smith was a part of two staffs that were recognized when the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes were announced: The Houston Chronicle was a finalist in the “Breaking News Reporting” category for coverage during Hurricane Harvey, and The Washington Post was the winner in the “Investigative Reporting” category for coverage leading up to the U.S. Senate special election in Alabama.
Kim Lewis, Sonic Drive-In vice president of digital strategies, is responsible for developing digital consumer strategies and programs to build a cutting edge direct-to-consumer digital marketing organization. Lewis was named to the Top 100 “Women to Watch” in 2017. Additionally, she was awarded the 2016 “DM News Marketing & Tech Innovation” award and 2016 “Bounce Exchange Marketing Team of the Year” award.
Ben Mankin, Mankin Media founder and CEO, saw a growing need for talented and creative people to lead organizations and churches through the media revolution. In 2001, he started Mankin Media, and has consulted, designed and installed technical systems all over the world. Mankin’s achievements include an exclusive ranking in Inc. 5000’s “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” from 2009-17 and was awarded an “Industry Leader with the Best House of Worship Project” in 2013, 2016 and 2017.
“This group is an outstanding representation of the breadth of work we train our students to do,” said Dr. Kenneth Pybus, chair of the JMC department. “In one sense, the work these three alumni do is very different from each other. But they are also each storytellers, putting into practice the very storytelling principles we value most.”
After the awards ceremony, guests are invited to the first floor of the Don H. Morris Building for the official dedication of the Mankin Media Control Room and the department’s new high-end production studio to enjoy dessert and a tour of the new facilities.
Honorees are nominated by alumni and faculty and must have graduated more than 10 years ago to be eligible.
Tickets may be purchased online at: bit.ly/2QtaDuS. For more information, please contact the JMC department at 325-674-2296.