The award will be presented during the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Awards Program at the Detroit Athletic Club, 6:30 9 p.m. Tickets are $100for professionals, $40 for students. Call (313) 577-2627 for details and tickets.

The award honors Detroit native Helen Thomas, WSU '42, the first woman chief of UPI's White House bureau, whose coverage of the White House extends back nine presidents to the Kennedy administration. The award recognizes a leadership role in promoting diversity in the media and the issues of race in America. The 2002 winner was Robert G. McGruder, the late executive editor of the Detroit Free Press.

"Helen Thomas and Gerald Boyd exemplify commitment to excellence in journalism'' said Ben Burns, director of WSU's Journalism Program. "They also work hard to teach younger reporters that kind of ethic."

On Sept. 6, 2001, Boyd was the first African American named to The Times' managing editor post. He joined the paper in 1983 as a deputy managing editor. His editorial leadership during coverage of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing helped win a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, The Times' first in that category in more than 20 years.

Boyd was co-senior editor of The Times' "How Race is Lived in America "series, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. The National Association of Black Journalists named Boyd 2001 Journalist of the Year.

The St. Louis native attended University of Missouri on a St. Louis Post-Dispatch scholarship, graduating in 1973. His first job for The Post-Dispatch was copy messenger. His last job, 10 years later, was Washington correspondent. In 1977, he founded the St. Louis Association of Black Journalists and was the group's charter president. Among his projects: a seven-week journalism workshop for high school students. In 1980, he was, at 29, the youngest journalist tapped for a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.

He has started a national scholarship for young African American journalism students and taught journalism workshops for minorities at Howard University and at the University of Missouri.

Last April, Boyd was elected to the American Society of Newspaper Editors' board of directors, the nation's largest and oldest organization of daily newspaper editors.

He is the 2002 recipient of University of Missouri-Columbia's Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism.

The National Urban League recently dubbed Boyd "a role model for journalists of all races."

Boyd lives in New York City with his wife, Robin Stone, an author and former executive editor of Essence Magazine editor-in-chief of Essence.com (and a former Free Press editor) and the couple's son, Zachary.

Editor's note: If you are interested in interviewing Ms. Thomas or Mr. Boydon Feb. 1, call Peg McNichol at (313) 577-2627.