Memphis Connection: Kent Honored With High-Profile Media Award

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Germany Kent, the former Miss Tennessee representative in the Hal Jackson's Talented Teens pageant who went on to the international competition to win "Miss Personality," has just been awarded one more prestigious award to add to her mantle. The freelance multimedia journalist, producer and media personality has been awarded the highly competitive national Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism becoming one of 77 honorees this year, determined out of more than 1,300 submissions.

The awards are open to any U.S. news or international media outlet and recognizes categories in print, radio, television, arts/graphics, newsletters, online and research. Kent won for Independent Online Deadline Reporting, and made history as the first African American woman to be awarded in this field.

Kent shares the honor in Online Deadline Reporting this year with the Los Angeles Times, who won as the affiliate media news organization. Both Kent and the LA Times received top honors in this field for individual stories they produced, respectively, on the mass shooting that occurred at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California last November.

The Times report "Gunfire and Flames in California," spotlights a series of events that occurred during the time of the massacre. Kent's work titled, "The Tragedy in Thousand Oaks," features in-depth on scene reporting in the aftermath that highlighted the impact of trauma, crime, disaster, and violence.

The Thousand Oaks mass shooting made national headlines and became the 307th mass murder of 2018. Kent dedicated her work to victims worldwide and advancing the knowledge of mass shootings. The national award-winning body of work was filmed, edited, produced and published by Kent.

Kent recently attended a high-profile ceremony, hosted by NBC News chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson, to receive her award at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The event was attended by some of the most respected and elite news organizations in the world.

Other honorees this year include Newsy, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Univision News, Chronicle of Higher Education, The Boston Globe, PRI's The World, PBS NewsHour, CBS News, NBC Nightly News, NPR, and The Associated Press.

Kent, who is well known throughout the MidSouth by her birth name Evelyn Palmer and is the daughter of Sardis mayor Lula Palmer, studied journalism and public relations at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia before transferring to Mississippi State University where she continued her journalism training.

While at MSU, Kent became the first African American woman elected to the student government, serving as the Attorney General. In 2017, the prominent Mississippi-native was honored as an inductee into the North Panola High School Hall of Fame. Her induction made history as a first in school history.

In addition to her nationally recognized work in media and production, Kent has won national and international honors for her humanitarian work. She has received the Lifetime Community Service Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Kent is also the multiple-award winning acclaimed author of the national bestseller "You Are What You Tweet."

About the Sigma Delta Chi Awards

Dating back to 1932, the awards originally honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the Society granted the first Distinguished Service Awards. The honors later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists, and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.