By Bob Allen
Baptist Standard Editor Marv Knox has been named fourth recipient of the Greg Warner Lifetime Achievement Award in Religious Journalism by directors of Baptist News Global, a journalistic organization formed last year in a merger of Virginia’s Religious Herald and Associated Baptist Press.
Knox, one of the Baptist state newspaper editors that supported the establishment of ABP as an independent news service in 1990 and a longtime member of its board of directors, will be honored at the Friends of BNG Dinner June 18 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas held in conjunction with the 2015 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly.
“Marv Knox is one of the premier journalists in American religion,” said David Wilkinson, executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. “As a brilliant writer and editor, his influence on Baptist life has been profound. Over a 36-year career, his work has consistently reflected the highest standards of journalistic excellence. He has fashioned a rich legacy etched with courage, integrity and grace.”
Kyle Reese, chair of the BNG board, said Knox’s talent, expertise and leadership have “separated him from the pack” of Baptist journalists.
“In a tumultuous time in Baptist life, when it would have been easy to be quiet, Marv told the truth,” said Reese, pastor of Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla. “By and large Texas Baptists and Baptists in general have rallied around him because he had the courage to do that.”
A graduate of Hardin-Simmons University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Knox joined Baptist Standard Publishing as associate editor in December 1995 before being named editor effective January 1999.
Knox previously served as editor of the Western Recorder, the Baptist paper of Kentucky, from 1990 to 1995. Before that he was features editor for Baptist Press, associate editor of the Baptist Message of Louisiana, director of news and information at Southern Seminary, assistant news director of the Southern Baptist Home (now North American) Mission Board in Atlanta, and staff writer for the Abilene Reporter News.
The award established in 2009 recognizes courage and integrity in reporting important issues related to matters of faith and writing and reporting that consistently reflect the highest standards of journalism.
Previous recipients are former ABP Executive Editor Greg Warner, who accepted the inaugural award in 2009; R.G. Puckett, retired editor of the Biblical Recorder and past chairman of the ABP board who received the award in 2011; and Toby Druin, Knox’s predecessor at the Baptist Standard, who was honored in 2012.
Knox was elected to the ABP board of directors in September 1991 and attended his first meeting in April 1992. He recently resigned from the BNG board, making him eligible for the award for the first time.
“Honoring Marv with this prestigious award is particularly appropriate as BNG celebrates the 25th anniversary of the founding of Associated Baptist Press,” Wilkinson said. “As a 23-year board member, leader of a partner news organization and unwavering advocate for a free press for Baptists, Marv’s contributions to ABP’s reputation and growth are incalculable.”
The Greg Warner Lifetime Achievement Award replaced and supersedes an earlier Writers Award, which was presented twice. Mark Wingfield, who served 21 years in Baptist journalism before becoming associate pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, was the inaugural recipient in 2003, followed by Ken Camp, managing editor of the Baptist Standard, in 2006.
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