WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announces that?ESPN’s
30 for 30 series?will receive the organization’s Best Practices
Award. The honor will be presented at the association’s 36th Annual
Convention and Career Fair in Philadelphia, PA, the nation’s largest
annual gathering of minority journalists.

30 for 30 is a series of documentaries airing on ESPN and its sister
networks. The series, which premiered in October 2009 and concluded in
December 2010, chronicles 30 stories from the “ESPN era,” each of which
detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that transformed the
sports landscape since the sports network was founded in 1979.

“30 for 30 is indicative of the excellent contributions made by?a
brilliant and diverse team?working behind the scenes. The NABJ board
congratulates executive producers John Dahl, Connor Schell, NABJ member
Keith Clinkscales and the ESPN team for including talented black
filmmakers who hit an amazing home run,” said NABJ President Kathy Y.
Times.

The films in totality represent something never seen on TV before
through a team of diverse storytellers.?The series includes the saga of
how the Allen Iverson trial impacted the Hampton Roads, Virginia,
community to the personal family story of running back Ricky Williams in
“Run Ricky Run” and “One Night in Vegas” on the night of a Mike Tyson
fight and how Tupac Shakur never made it to the after party.
African-American directors John Singleton and Reggie Rock Bythewood had
the opportunities to lead some of these stories. Additional contributors
to the series include Ice Cube, Spike Lee, Morgan Freeman, and Kirk
Fraser among others.

“ESPN’s collection of documentaries on these 30 riveting stories from
over the past 30 years provides quality in-depth reporting to give
viewers the complete versions of these events that often went untold.
The series offers a different perspective of these stories that previous
news accounts could not provide,” said NABJ Treasurer and Sports Task
Force Chair, Greg Lee. “The series also has the power of time on its
side, allowing us the ability to reflect on these stories years later.
It is truly an amazing body of work worthy of our Best Practices honor.”

The idea for the series began with ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons, who
wanted feature filmmakers to recount the sports stories, people, and
events from the past three decades, which they took a personal interest
or involvement in, however great or small, and felt hadn’t been fully
explored. Simmons and his team took special interest in “stories that
resonated at the time but were eventually forgotten for whatever reason.”

Directors had creative control over their 30 for 30 episodes. They
appear in interstitial comments during the broadcast to discuss their
film and its subject matter, usually appearing before the beginning of
the film and before the last commercial break.

NABJ’s National Awards recognize top media organizations and
professionals for their print, broadcast, and online journalism work in
2010. Awards will be bestowed to top writers, columnists, producers,
reporters, photojournalists and editors.

ESPN will be joined by other top honorees including the Miami Herald’s
Jacqueline Charles for Journalist of the Year, and NABJ Founder Acel
Moore for Lifetime Achievement, as well as ESPN’s Claire Smith for the
organization’s Legacy Award.?NABJ’s 36th Annual Convention and Career
Fair will take place Aug. 3-7 in Philadelphia, PA. For additional
information, ticket sales and registration, please visit us at?www.nabj.org