The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced its 2026 Salute to Excellence Awards winners during its annual gala at the #NABJ26 Convention & Career Fair Saturday in Atlanta. Here are the winners for each category. Congratulations to all!
NABJ’s 2026 Authors Showcase that recently took place in Atlanta featured more than 25 authors whose work spans family, journalism, media, hip hop, politics, military service, religion and more. This signature event of the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention gives members up-close and personal access to fellow journalists who aspire to write books or who simply enjoy reading the work of their peers. It also offers NABJ’s authors a platform to showcase their storytelling and writing skills beyond the newsroom.
NBC broadcast journalist and co-host of “Jenna and Sheinelle” was featured in the National Association of Black Journalists’ Authors Showcase on Aug. 14, 2026 during the organization’s annual convention in Atlanta. Jones discussed her new book, “Through Mom’s Eyes: Simple Wisdom From Mothers Who Raised Extraordinary Humans.” Photo by Cedric Brooks
This year’s notable authors, journalists and guests included Sheinelle Jones of NBC’s “Jenna and Sheinelle” talk show; Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of “The 1619 Project”; Lee Hawkins, formerly of The Wall Street Journal who discussed his book, “I Am Not Your Slave,”; and Marion Orr, a Brown University professor whose new book, House of Diggs, explores the life of the late Michigan congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr.
Additionally, Krishan Trotman, founder of Hachette Publishing’s Legacy Lit imprint, led a discussion about how journalists can expand their imprint through authorship. That panel included NABJ President Errin Haines along with broadcast journalists Roland Martin and Tiffany Cross.
Village Books, a Black-owned bookstore based in Atlanta, was onsite to stock and sell our authors’ books. They were wonderful to work with!
Below is a look at this year’s Authors Showcase participants and the journalists who interviewed them over a three-day period.
–Bonnie Newman Davis, Chair and Producer, NABJ Authors Showcase
1 & 2. Lee Hawkins, author of “I Am Not Your Slave,” and Robin Washington, Forward, discuss Hawkins’ book.
3. Booked and Visible: How Black Authors Build Buzz—With or Without a Publisher | Presented by Wayne Dawkins, Curtis Bunn, Jessica Tilles and Tanya Y. Mitchell.
4. Tiffany Cross discusses her new book, “Love, Me,” with Authors Showcase assistant Erin D. Stanley.
5. Nicole Carr shares details about her book, “The Price of Exclusion: Healthcare in a Segregated Nation.”
6. Sheinelle Jones, author of “Through Mom’s Eyes,” receives an Outstanding Book Award from Authors Showcase Chair and Producer Bonnie Newman Davis. – 7. Mashaun D. Simon, who authored “Faith Deconstruction For Dummies,” was interviewed by Delano Massey of Axios.
8. “Raps of Resistance: How Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole Reignited a Hip-Hop Tradition,” by Earl Hopkins and Dr. Jeremy McCool (left). Moderated by Ethan Sands (middle).
9. Legacy Lit, An imprint of Hachette Book Group, Presents “How Journalists Expand Their Imprint Through Authorship” | Presented by Krishan Trotman, Errin Haines, Roland Martin, Tiffany Cross.
10. “Black and Golden: Fifty Years of NABJ, 1975-2025” | Presented by the book’s editor Wayne Dawkins and contributor Gayle Pollard Terry. Moderated by Randall Pinkston.
11. Literary agent Laini Brown Jemison gives the inside scoop on book authorship and publishing.
12. Christine McWhorter, Ph.D. of Howard University, discusses her book, “Building Critical Race Media Literacy.”
13. Legacy Lit, An imprint of Hachette Book Group, Presents “How Journalists Expand Their Imprint Through Authorship” | Presented by Krishan Trotman, Errin Haines, Roland Martin, and Tiffany Cross.
14. Veteran reporter and writer J.J. Green shares with broadcaster Jasmine Styles the details of his new book, “The Noise War: How to Fight Disinformation and Find Truth When Everything is Lying to You.”
15. “Touchdown In Brazil” is the newest work by prolific author Omar Tyree (right), who is interviewed by retired broadcast journalist Sam Ford. Ford is also an NABJ Founder.
16. “Forgotten Souls: The Search for Lost Tuskegee Airmen” is authored by Cheryl W. Thompson, a former Washington Post investigative journalist. With Cheryl is veteran journalist Ron Nixon.
17. “The Black Shield: An American Memoir of Family/Power” is Wilbert L. Cooper ‘s new book. He is interviewed by Daphne Duret of The Marshall Project.
18. Legacy Lit, An imprint of Hachette Book Group, presented the panel “How Journalists Expand Their Imprint Through Authorship” | Presented by Krishan Trotman, Errin Haines, Roland Martin, Tiffany Cross.
19. “Unearthing My Family Secrets of Land, Legacy – and Lettuce” is Lonnae O’Neal’s new book. O’Neal is a former Washington Post reporter. Ernie Suggs of the Atlanta Journal Constitution interviewed Lonnae about her powerful family memoir.
20. NABJ President Errin Haines and broadcast journalist Tiffany Cross share writing and publishing tips.
21. Gloria J. Browne-Marshall delivered a riveting presentation centered on her new book, “A Protest History of the United States.”
22. “We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America” was written by the late Philadelphia Michael I. Days and his wife, Angela P. Dodson, a former New York Times editor. Days was a retired and highly revered news executive at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News.
23. “Black and Golden: Fifty Years of NABJ, 1975-2025” | Presented by the book’s editor Wayne Dawkins, and former Los Angeles Times reporter Gayle Pollard Terry, one of the book’s contributors. Randall Pinkston, a former CBS News commentator, moderated the panel.
24. “Telling Our Stories: NABJ Book Pitch Session” by Laini Brown Jemison and Angela P. Dodson. From Idea to Pen to Paper to Publishing and Getting Paid | Presented by Laini Brown Jemison, Wisdom Martin, Delano Massey and Angela P. Dodson
25. “The Financial GPS: Navigating Your Path to Prosperity by Sonia White,” who was interviewed by Eva Coleman.
26. Village Books of Atlanta, curated NABJ’s Authors Showcase bookstore this year.
27. Nikole Hannah-Jones chats with Authors Showcase audience members.
28. Village Books bookstore.Village Books of Atlanta, curated NABJ’s Authors Showcase bookstore this year by stocking and selling dozens of NABJ’s authors titles.
29. “Building Critical Race Media Literacy” by Christine McWhorter, Ph.D., seeks to increase students’ critical understanding of systemic racial inequities depicted in various media texts. The book also empowers students prompts students to question and act against systemic racial inequities by recognizing in media texts.
30. Deric Gilliard chronicles his work in federal government during the Trump years in his new book, “The Longest Four Years of My Life.” . 31. David L. Shabazz, an associate professor at Kentucky State University, authored “Pro Wrestling’s Black World Champions.” Pro Wrestling’s Black World Champions – 3rd Edition. The book includes stories of some iconic wrestlers and some historical moments that include Bobo Brazil and others.
32. House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of Charles C. Diggs, Jr. by Marion Orr (left), a professor at Brown University. At the height of the civil rights movement, Charles C. Diggs Jr. (1922–1998) was the consummate power broker. In a political career spanning 1951 to 1980, Diggs, Michigan’s first Black member of Congress.
33. Robin Allison Davis discusses her book, “Surviving Paris: A Memoir of Healing.” After more than a decade as a journalist and television producer, Robin Allison Davis decided to shake up her life and move to France. But it wasn’t quite the life she expected. When she was just thirty-four, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surviving Paris recounts her journey and how she got to finding herself healthy again, including all the detours in between.
34. Booked and Visible: How Black Authors Build Buzz—With or Without a Publisher | Presented by authors Curtis Bunn (middle), Jessica Tilles and Tanya Y. Mitchell. Bunn is the founder of the National Black Book Club, Mitchell is author of the book “More Than a Dean, about Quiester Craig’s pursuit of business school equity at HBCUs. Tilles provides multilevel writing and editing services to authors through her company, TWA Solutions.
35. Randye Bullock—One-Sixteenth: My Journey to Racial Identity by Randye Bullock. In her book, Bullock opens up a deeply personal and thought-provoking exploration of race, identity, and belonging.
BND Institute of Media & Culture 