Rick Bragg

Dr. Bailey Thomson

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- On Thursday, March 18, The University of Alabama journalism department will present the seventh annual Clarence Cason Awards for Nonfiction Writing.

The 2004 winners are Rick Bragg, a best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, and Dr. Bailey Thomson, a journalist and educator. Thomson, a UA journalism professor, died of a heart attack on Nov. 26, 2003. Accepting the award will be his widow, Kristi Thomson, and daughter, Sarah, a sophomore at the University.

Bragg, a native of Piedmont, has worked as a reporter for the Anniston Star, the Birmingham News and the St. Petersburg Times. He also spent 10 years as a reporter and correspondent with the New York Times. His books include “All Over but the Shoutin’,” “Somebody Told Me,” “Ava’s Man,” and “I’m a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story.” Bragg was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1996.

Thomson, a native of Aliceville, worked as a reporter for the Huntsville Times and the Tuscaloosa News, was chief editorial writer for the Orlando Sentinel and served as editorial page and associate editor for the Mobile Register. In 1999, he received an ASNE award for Best Editorial Writing and was named Teacher of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the author of “Dixie’s Broken Heart” and “Century of Controversy: The 1901 Alabama Constitution.”

Tickets for the banquet honoring Bragg and Thomson at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel are $50 and include a reception and dinner. The event will begin with a 6 p.m. reception, followed by the awards program and Bragg’s address.

An informal session with Bragg and some of Thomson’s close friends will take place on Friday, March 19, from 9:30 a.m.-noon in 216 Reese Phifer Hall. Topics for discussion will include writing, reporting and other related subjects. Students and others are welcome to attend. All former Cason winners have been invited and several have said they will participate in the session.

The journalism department in the College of Communication and Information Sciences (C&IS) at UA established the Cason Award in 1997 to honor exemplary nonfiction over a long career. Winners must be distinguished writers over a lifetime and have a connection to Alabama and the South. The awards carry a cash prize of $3,000.

Other Cason winners have been Diane McWhorter, literary journalist Gay Talese, former New York Times editor Howell Raines, famed biologist Edward O. Wilson, jazz critic and memoirist Albert Murray and Auburn historian and social critic Wayne Flynt. McWhorter, Raines and Wilson also earned Pulitzers for their work.

To order tickets, send name, address, phone number, e-mail address and your check or money order by March 12, to Sheila Davis, C&IS, Box 870172, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. The cost is $50 per ticket. For a ticket order form and more information go to http://www.ccom.ua.edu:16080/Journalism/cason.html.