Photos: Wikimedia Commons\UFCJ
The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) has received a transformative $8 million gift from Nathan S. Collier, founder and chairman of The Collier Companies based in Gainesville, Florida. This landmark donation will significantly strengthen the College’s commitment to supporting investigative and accountability journalism with a particular focus on state and local government reporting.
Collier, a descendant of Peter Fenelon Collier, the founder of the influential investigative magazine Collier’s (1888), has a long-standing passion for journalism. His initial gift in 2019 established the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability, which has become one of the most prestigious journalism awards in the country.
“The Collier Prize recognizes the best U.S. professional reporting on state government accountability in any medium and on any platform,” explained UFCJC Dean Hub Brown. “This generous gift will ensure the Prize’s long-term sustainability and allow us to expand its reach even further.”
This year’s Collier Prize winners will be announced at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 27 in Washington, D.C.
The $8 million endowment will fund the Collier Prize in perpetuity, allowing the College to continue recognizing and rewarding journalists who produce exceptional investigative and political reporting focused on state governments across the nation.
A Beacon for Investigative Journalism
Beyond sustaining the Prize, the Collier gift will also enable the College to create an annual local journalism symposium. This event will bring together leading journalists, scholars and students to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing local accountability journalism in the current media landscape.
“The symposium will be a platform to highlight the best work being done in local investigative journalism,” said Brown (shown below). “We will explore the challenges journalists face in covering local government and brainstorm solutions to ensure a strong and vibrant local news ecosystem.”
A Legacy of Investigative Excellence
Collier is hoping his gift will help position the College as a national leader in investigative journalism education and research.
“My goal is to help the College of Journalism and Communications become a city on the hill, a mecca for investigative journalism,” Collier remarked. “I hope the University of Florida becomes the place where people turn to for standards on how best to do investigative journalism.”
The Collier Prize and the upcoming symposium represent significant steps towards achieving this goal. By recognizing exceptional work and fostering a national conversation about local accountability journalism, UFCJC is poised to make a lasting impact on the field.
Editor’s Note: Dean Hub Brown will apprear on today’s Black Star News Show program on New York’s WBAI 99.5 Radio or WBAI.ORG.
