Journalist Chris Bynum visits campus for Journalism Alumni Speakers Series

Oct. 7, 2008 -- Chris Bynum, health and fitness writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning staff for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, is the third scheduled speaker in the Journalism Alumni Speakers series. She will be on campus, Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 13-14.

Bynum, a native of Dermott and 1970 graduate of Arkansas State University’s journalism program, is former editor of The Herald and was named the first recipient of the Tex Plunkett Service Award and the outstanding journalism graduate for 1970.

In her first return visit to ASU since 1971, Bynum will speak to several classes about the devastation and recovery in New Orleans resulting from Hurricane Katrina. She will address the new reporting and news writing classes at 10 a.m., Monday, Oct. 13, in room 217 in the Communications Building. At 2 p.m., she will meet with the feature and magazine article writing and news writing classes in Communications Building 233, followed by a meeting with staff members of The Herald at 5 p.m.

On Tuesday, Oct. 14, Bynum will meet with the news reporting and news writing classes in Communications Building  217. Also on her two-day agenda is a tour of the city and a meeting with Jonesboro Sun editor Roy Ockert.

After beginning her journalism career as a copy editor at the Arkansas Democrat, Bynum moved to New Orleans in 1973, where she directed an anti-crime organization of 7,000 volunteers sponsored by the States-Item newspaper in the Crescent City.  She also has worked as a free-lance writer for the Associated Press and the Dallas Times-Herald.

Bynum has been a food editor for the States-Item, an entertainment magazine editor, a gossip columnist, a fashion editor and a health and fitness writer for the Times-Picayune. She covered fashion in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans. 

She won five national Atrium Awards for fashion journalism—several for color-packed fashion sections and one for her story on what people wear for burial—and more than 20 Alpha Awards from the Fashion Group International’s regional competition as well as its lifetime achievement award. She also served on the Council of Fashion Designers of America nominating committee for its annual awards presentation.

After 16 years of writing about fashion, Bynum started a health and fitness section for the Times-Picayune in 2001 and received an Excellence in Feature award from the Louisiana Press Association, and a Media Award from the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in New Orleans for coverage of post-Katrina addiction problems.  She was part of the newspaper’s staff that received two Pulitzer Prizes—for public service and breaking news—for its Katrina coverage.           

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