AMES, Iowa -- Dave Kurns, a 1982 Iowa State University journalism graduate and director of business development for Meredith Corp., Des Moines, will receive the James W. Schwartz Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Communication from ISU's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. Kurns will be presented the award during homecoming activities on Friday, Oct. 29, in Hamilton Hall.
The Schwartz Award is the highest honor conferred by the Greenlee School and named after James W. Schwartz, department chair for 13 years, who also served as president of the Association for Education in Journalism. The school's advisory council and faculty nominate candidates, and faculty members select the winner.
"I am honored to be named the 2010 James Schwartz Award winner, and am truly humbled," Kurns said. "When I see the names of previous winners, I see true pillars of journalism, both at ISU and beyond. I owe a great deal of my career -- in newspapers, magazines, and Web content -- to the training and inspiration I found at ISU and the Greenlee School.
"Thank you to the staff, faculty, and the foundation built by James Schwartz and the previous winners," he continued. "I am proud to be a Greenlee alum and advocate."
When informed of this year's winner, Schwartz sent an e-mail adding, "my hearty congratulations to Dave Kurns on his selection as this year's Schwartz Award recipient, not alone for his great breadth of experience and accomplishment in traditional print media, but also for his smooth transition to innovative design and development of unique Internet communication vehicles."
Kurns' expertise is in creating strategies and business partnerships to make websites successful and profitable. He has been instrumental in developing web properties as an editor, strategist, marketer, and creative team leader.
He spent nearly 10 years as a newspaper reporter and editor at the Ames Tribune and the Quad-City Times before joining Meredith as a copy editor for the Better Homes and Gardens® Special Interest Publications. After being promoted to copy chief, he was named assistant managing editor of the Food, Garden, and Special projects departments of SIP, the Meredith division responsible for creating magazines across a range of home and family topics and sold primarily at newsstand.
He was named one of two founding editors of Meredith New Media in 1994 and began work on an electronic magazine project what became Meredith's first commercial Internet site, www.agriculture.com.
For more than 11 years, Kurns was an interactive editor in this group, which included Meredith's largest magazine destination sites: Better Homes and Gardens online (BHG.com), Ladies' Home Journal (LHJ.com), American Baby (AmericanBaby.com), Parents (Parents.com) among others. In 2001, he became Editor in Chief of Meredith Interactive. The 10 sites generated more than 9 million unique visitors and 100 million page views monthly.
He joined Meredith Integrated Marketing in 2006 to help lead MIM's expansion into digital content and marketing services. He was responsible for creating and directing editorial initiatives across media for major marketing companies, including: Kraft Foods, Nestle, Honda, Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler and Met Life, among others.
Kurns earned a degree in journalism and mass communication, with a minor in business. He and his wife, Sharon, live in Johnston, Iowa. They have two children, Daniel, 22, and Anna, 18, both ISU students.
Past Schwartz-Award winners include Hugh Sidey, Time
Magazine's White House correspondent; Robert L. Bartley,
Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Wall Street Journal;
Lauren Soth, former editorial-page editor of the Des Moines
Register and a Pulitzer Prize winner; Thomas J. Knudson,
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Sacramento Bee; Roy
Reiman (1957), founder of Reiman Publications; Terry Anderson,
a former Middle East bureau chief for the Associated Press, who
was held hostage in Lebanon; Ann Cooper, former United Nations
correspondent for National Public Radio; and Chris Adams,
former reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Wall
Street Journal, yet another Pulitzer winner. Last year's
recipient was Christine Romans, host of CNN's weekend
business program "Your $$$$$."
