CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT JAN CRAWFORD TO SPEAK AT AHF LUNCHEON

The Alabama Humanities Foundation (AHF) is pleased to announce that its annual Alabama Humanities awards luncheon will be held Monday, Sept. 13, 2010, in Birmingham at the Wynfrey Hotel from 12-1:30 p.m. All members of the public are invited to attend.

Author and Alabama native Jan Crawford, chief legal correspondent for CBS News, will deliver the keynote address at the luncheon, which will honor Edgar Welden as the 2010 Alabama Humanities Award recipient. The Robert R. Meyer Foundation will receive the 2010 Charitable Organization in the Humanities Award and the 2010 Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarships will be presented. Also, a special resolution will honor The Rev. Fred Lee Shuttlesworth.

Jan Crawford
Jan Crawford is the chief legal correspondent for CBS News and a recognized authority on the Supreme Court. Her 2007 book, Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court, gained critical acclaim and became an instant New York Times Best Seller.
Jan Crawford began her journalism career at the Chicago Tribune in 1987, joining the legal affairs beat in 1993 after graduating from the University of Chicago Law School. The newspaper awarded her its highest award in 2001 for her role on a team of reporters covering the presidential election of 2000 and the legal battles over the White House. She won the same prize for her 13-part series on the post-civil rights South, a project that brought her back to her native Alabama.
Crawford graduated from the University of Alabama in 1987. She frequently speaks about the court to universities, law schools, legal organizations and civic groups across the country. She is a member of the New York Bar. She and her family live in Washington, D.C.

Edgar Welden
Edgar Welden will be honored this year as the 2010 Alabama Humanities Award recipient. He initiated and has personally funded the Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarships benefitting current kindergarten through sixth-grade teachers in social studies projects. He is the current chair of the Alabama Sports Hall Of Fame and Museum and president of the Bryant-Jordan Student Athlete Foundation, which provides more than 100 scholarships annually to Alabama high school seniors.

Robert R. Meyer Foundation
For 68 years, the Robert R. Meyer Foundation has helped provide support to many charitable organizations in central Alabama. Since its inception, the Meyer Foundation has given away more than $54 million to 350 different charitable organizations. AHF has received funding from the Meyer Foundation for 20 years to help ensure the present and future success of the organization.

The Rev. Fred Lee Shuttlesworth
As a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, The Rev. Shuttlesworth has contributed much to Alabama. This tribute will pay homage to him for his exemplary record of public advocacy that embodies the values and perspectives of the humanities.

2010 Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarships
The awards luncheon will also recognize six elementary teachers receiving the 2010 Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship will support their professional development and classroom enhancements in history and civics. Generously funded by Edgar and Louise Welden of Birmingham, the scholarships honor the memory of Jenice Riley, the late daughter of Gov. Bob Riley and his wife Patsy, whose dedicated passion for teaching and devotion to community helped ensure a quality education for our state’s youth.

Luncheon attendance normally ranges from 450 to 500. Approximately 600 people attended the 2008 luncheon, which featured Riley as its keynote speaker and U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby as the 2008 Alabama Humanities Award recipient.

Tickets are $50 for lunch only, and $150 for patron tickets, which include a pre-lunch reception and patron gifts. Tickets may be purchased by phoning (205) 558-3992, or by going online to ahf.net/luncheon. Ticket order forms can be faxed upon request.

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