WRAL-TV Editor Taunia Stevenson recently received an honor from the National Association of Black Journalists. The NABJ invited her to take part in the NABJ TV Student Project at their annual convention in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 16 - 20.

Stevenson was selected from a field of hundreds by the NABJ board members. She traveled to Phoenix, all expenses paid for the entire five days of the convention. She became part of a student group that produced three newscasts to cover the event. Stevenson headed up the entertainment part of the

The convention boasted a wide array of special appearances; including U. S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., actor Robert Guilliame, ABC News Anchor Carole Simpson and music group Boyz II Men. Stevenson did not get to attend many of the seminars and workshops during the convention because she was hard at work on assignment. Her schedule while in Phoenix was as grueling as normal news work. The project participants had to be in the “office” by 7:30am and usually didn’t leave until after 10:00pm. She did several features and says she learned a lot even though she missed out on the convention itself. She said that although she already knew a lot about what goes into creating a newscast because she works in a newsroom, this project gave her the opportunity to do some on-camera work. Stevenson eventually wants to be a reporter or anchor. She believes that learning the behind the scenes work is crucial to being successful on-camera.

Stevenson’s road to Phoenix started with News & Observer columnist Barry Sanders. He saw potential in her and forwarded her name to NABJ president Will Sutton who also works at the N&O as is Deputy Managing Editor. Sutton sent her name forward from there, and she eventually received a call to ask her to participate.

Other CBC’ers joined Stevenson in Phoenix, including Pope, Smith and WRAL News Director Andrea Parquet-Taylor. Human Resources Director Jan Sharp and Benefits Administator Van Williams attended the job fair portion of the event.