Changemaker Award
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT CHANGEmAKER AWARD
About The Charlayne hunter-gault changemaker award
Grady College is thrilled to launch a new award for mass communication professionals that will honor one of its own whose history-making career connects the past, present and future with the power one individual can have to affect change.
The Charlayne Hunter-Gault Changemaker Award recognizes the courage, tenacity and professional excellence of the first Black female to attend The University of Georgia. After graduating from Grady College in 1963, Hunter-Gault joined the staff of The New Yorker, followed by The New York Times, PBS’s MacNeil/Lehrer Report and what is now the PBS NewsHour. In 1997, she became the chief correspondent in Africa for National Public Radio. She joined CNN in 1999 as its bureau chief and correspondent in Johannesburg, South Africa, and returned to NPR as a special correspondent in 2005. In 2023, Hunter-Gault was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and she has been honored with several awards, including two Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards.
With the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Changemaker Award, Grady College will help drive a new legacy recognizing those who use their time and talents in mass communication in all its various forms to create notable change. Recognizing the connectivity and influence of mass communications across growing distribution channels, nominations may come from newsrooms, boardrooms, agencies, content and creative studios, classrooms, digital spaces and communities.
Nominations will be promoted across the United States. Nominees do not have to be UGA alumni. Nominate a deserving individual for the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Changemaker Award.
Award Timeline
- August 14 — Charlayne Hunter-Gault Award Nominations Open
- November 30 — Charlayne Hunter-Gault Changemaker Award Nominations Close
- February 1 — Charlayne Hunter-Gault Changemaker Recipient Announced
- April 1 — Charlayne Hunter-Gault Changemaker Award Presentation and Reception
Award Benefactor
Carole Munroe (ABJ ’82) is a communications and marketing executive with CommSense Marketing and PR, a company she founded. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Grady College, and she is a former chairperson of the Board of Trust.
Formerly, Munroe held a series of executive leadership positions with some of the nation’s largest consumer brands, including serving as vice president of communications for Hilton Worldwide and director of Walt Disney World Public Relations.
“Mass communication, inclusive of journalism, has the power to create societal shifts by documenting history, informing with facts and motivating with ideas. Charlayne Hunter-Gault is the ultimate Changemaker. She has accomplished all of the above and placed her life on the line at a young age to secure freedoms for all while never losing sight of her dreams,” Munroe said.
“She also invested time and resources to benefit Grady College and the communications industry at large. This award further ensures Charlayne’s legacy by honoring changemakers in mass communications and journalism who, like her, not only dream of a better world but are investing their time and talents to make it happen.”