Brumfield to receive Silver Em award

The University of Mississippi Meek School of Journalism and New Media has awarded the Samuel S. Talbert Silver Em Award, the highest award given to journalists by the university, to Patsy Brumfield.
Brumfield, a Mississippi native and Ole Miss graduate, said she is honored.
“I was really surprised and pleased and really excited,” she said. “It was something I had always hoped would happen.”
Brumfield was a journalism major at Ole Miss from 1967-71 and spent three years working for The Daily Mississippian as a reporter, managing editor and assistant editor.  
After graduation, she returned to her hometown to work for the McComb Enterprise-Journal, eventually becoming managing editor. Brumfield then worked for state government communications and politics. Since 2003, she has been covering courts and politics for The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
“She knows that how people get their information has changed, and she has adapted her techniques to do that,” Meek School Assistant Dean Charlie Mitchell said. “She has a trusted byline. When people see her name, they know they aren’t going to have their time wasted.”
The Silver Em award is given to journalists who are either Mississippians who have contributed to journalism or a non-resident who has done great work in Mississippi.
“If you look at who the winners are, they are outstanding journalists who have had great careers,” Meek School Dean Will Norton said. “It’s basically to honor someone who has had a terrific career.”
Mitchell said there is no formal nomination process for who wins the award. There is a committee in the school that decides who is worthy of receiving it.
“She really has just done an outstanding body of work over the years,” Mitchell said. “One of my favorite things about Patsy is how she has remained current and contemporary.”
Mitchell said he believes Brumfield has really embraced social and new media. She is very much a journalist of 2011, Mitchell said.
“A career as a journalist is as exciting as you want it to be,” Brumfield said. “When you walk into the office in the morning, you don’t know what is going to happen. I find that really stimulating and exciting.”
To keep her work current, Brumfield will sometimes tweet or update her Facebook page while in the court room covering a big story.
“She has probably done more reporting on the courts than anybody — other than someone whose only job is to cover the courts,” Norton said.
Brumfield is a frequent speaker on campus and plans to make acceptance remarks today after she is presented with the award in the Overby Conference Center.
Brumfield said she enjoyed her time as a student at Ole Miss and has very much enjoyed her successful career as a journalist.  
“It is a career that gives you the key to almost every door,” she said.
The Silver Em has been awarded annually since 1958.