Prism Award event chair and honoree announced

J. Joel Quadracci, president and chief operating officer of Quad/Graphics, will chair New York University’s 2006 Prism Award event honoring Richard M. Smith, chairman, editor-in-chief and chief executive officer for both editorial and business operations of Newsweek.  The Award is presented by New York University in recognition of distinguished leadership in the graphic arts and communications industry.

Sponsored by the Advisory Board of NYU's Graphic Communications Management and Technology Program, the 2006 Prism Award will be given to Mr Smith during the 21st Annual Prism Award Luncheon on Tuesday, June 20, in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.  Mr Quadracci will present the award to Mr Smith.
Previous NYU Prism Award recipients include Antonio M. Perez, president and chief executive officer of Eastman Kodak Company; Anne M. Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation; William L. Davis, chairman, CEO and president of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company; Henri Dyner, president and CEO of Sun Chemical Corporation; Janet L. Robinson, president and general manager of The New York Times; and Katharine Graham, chairman and former CEO of The Washington Post.

The proceeds of the Prism Award Luncheon help to fund student scholarships as well as student and program support for New York University’s internationally renowned Graphic Communications graduate program, which offers curricula to develop the next generation of industry leaders. Since its inception, the Prism Award Luncheon has raised millions of dollars for education.

In 2005, the program moved to its new home within NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. One of the University’s 14 colleges and schools, NYU SCPS has for the past 70 years focused on creating applied professional programs for people already in the workforce. The school offers industry focused master’s degrees in such areas as public relations, fundraising, human resources management, real estate, construction management, hospitality industry studies, direct marketing, publishing, tourism and travel management and sports management.

Tickets for the June 20th, 2006 Prism Award Luncheon are available from $750 per person to $6,000 for a sponsor’s table of eight, and $10,000 for a co-chairmanship. Reservations and additional information are available from the NYU SCPS’s office of special events. Contact Anna Condoulis on 1 212 998 7003 or by e-mail at ac5@nyu.edu.

Richard M. Smith

As chairman and editor-in-chief, Richard M. Smith is chief executive officer for both editorial and business operations of Newsweek.  Mr Smith has been editor-in-chief since 1984, having served in a variety of editorial roles both in New York and overseas for the preceding 14 years. In 1991 he was also named president, adding responsibility for marketing, advertising sales, circulation, manufacturing, and all publishing operations. He was named chairman in March 1998.

Mr Smith was chairman of the Magazine Publishers of America from 1996 to 1997 and the founding chairman of the MPA’s New Media Committee. He is a former board member of the American Society of Magazine Editors. In January 2002 he received the MPA’s highest honor, The Henry Johnson Fisher Award.

Mr Smith joined Newsweek on a four-week writing tryout in 1970 after completing his degree at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He wrote his first cover story – on the ‘Black September’ uprising in the Middle East – six weeks later.  In 1974 Smith became Newsweek International’s Asia editor based in Hong Kong, and in 1977 he moved to New York as managing editor of the international editions. In 1981 he was named assistant managing editor of the domestic magazine and later executive editor.

The Business Marketing Association named Mr Smith ‘Communicator of the Year’ in 1995 and Advertising Age magazine saluted him as one of its top ‘Marketing 100’ in 1993. He is also a juror for the MIT, Sloan eBusiness awards.  Smith is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the boards of trustees of Albion College and the Smithsonian’s’ Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.  He is a member of the board of visitors of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and the International Advisory Board of the Harvard AIDS Institute.

A native of Detroit, Mr Smith received a BA summa cum laude from Albion College in Michigan. He attended Columbia University’s School of International Affairs before receiving his MS in journalism from Columbia in 1970.  Mr Smith is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Albion College.