The University of North Texas’ Mayborn School of Journalism presented Foote the school’s highest honor, the C.E. Shuford Hall of Honor Award.
Neil Foote is the University of North Texas’ Executive Director of Frisco Marketing Strategy, division of the University Brand Strategy and Strategic Communication. His primary role is to help market and promote UNT at Frisco, its College of Applied and Collaborative Studies and establish strategic partnerships with businesses and organizations to support our students and faculty.
Foote formerly was a principal lecturer at UNT’s Mayborn School of Journalism where for more than 15 years he created courses in media entrepreneurship, business journalism, media management, principles of news and multimedia storytelling.
He also was director of the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, one the nation’s premier conferences for writers. The conference, founded by retired Writer-in-Residence and veteran Wall Street journalist, George Getschow, celebrates great reporting, writing and storytelling. It’s a conference that attract aspiring and experienced writers and authors talk about the story behind the story and focus on the craft of storytelling. As you know, many New York Times editors and reporters have participated over the years in the conference and have won many awards from our writing contests.
The conference has featured a wide range of speakers, including Marty Baron, the former Washington Post Executive Editor; Katrice Hardy, editor, Dallas Morning News and a host of award-winning journalists, including Eli Saslow and DeNeen Brown of The Washington Post; Mimi Swartz, Texas Monthly reporter/columnist; Dr. Seema Yasmin, Stanford University; Sarah Hepola, best-selling author; Kirk Eichenwald, best-selling author; veteran journalists and authors Wanda Lloyd, Michael Cottman, Patrice Gaines, Keith Harriston, Patricia Gaston and KERA’s Krys Boyd and Sam Baker.
Past speakers have included: Sarah Broom, author, The Yellow House – a winner of the National Book Award (and an UNT alum); Gene Weingarten, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist of “One Day”; Doug Swanson, the former DMN author whose latest book, “The Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers”; and Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, the veteran reporters and authors of “The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III.” In past years, we’ve had Nikole Hannah-Jones, Charles Johnson, Lindy West, Margot Lee Shetterly, Kevin Merida, Taylor Branch, Gilbert King, Lawrence Wright, David Ignatius, Katherine Boo, Ira Glass, Sebastian Unger, Mary Karr, Hampton Sides, Stella Chavez, Major Garrett, James McGrath Morris, Rick Atkinson,Skip Hollandsworth, Sonia Nazario, Wesley Morris, Margo Jefferson, Jemele Hill, Diana Henriques, Alfredo Corchado, Christopher Goffard, Beth Macy, Laura Beil, Walter Kirn, Dan Goodgame, Brantley Hargrove, Mike Mooney, and many others.
Foote is author of “Principles of News” (Kendall Hunt, 2020) and a contributor to the textbook, “Race, Gender, Class, and Media: Studying Mass Communication and Multiculturalism: (Kendall Hunt Publisher, 2011, 2017).