Politico (reformatted here, emphasis mine):
The Heritage Foundation and Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity will host an awards dinner this Friday in honor of Andrew Breitbart, the conservative firebrand who passed away earlier this year. The first annual Breibart Awards dinner, which will take place in Providence, R.I., is part of the two organizations’ Future of Journalism Summit, which brings conservative news outlets and bloggers together for meetings, panels and training sessions. The Washington Examiner’s Phillip Klein will take home the Professional Journalist award; Ace of Spades HQ will receive the award for best blog; and Andrew Marcus will receive the Citizen Journalist award. John Fund, the senior editor of The American Spectator, and Sonnie Johnson, of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, will speak.
“Breitbart set an example of what any indvidual can do, and showed people that you don’t need to go to journalism school or be a professional to make a big impact,” Erik Telford, the vice president of outreach at the Franklin Center, told POLITICO. “What we’re honoring, and what people are inspired to follow, is his pursuit for accountability, finding the stories other people wouldn’t cover, and making sure the public got the information they deserve.”
The Future of Journalism Summit invites conservative participants — Telford highlighted journalists fromm outlets like the Examiner, the Daily Caller, and the National Review — and has even made a point of holding the summit at the same time that the liberal Netroots Nation is holding its own summit in Providence.
But Telford said that he hopes the mission of Breitbart extends beyond conservatives.
“What he was doing is something that was not necessarily restricted to a specific ideology,” Telford said. “Anyone on either side can stand up and question elected officials, question organizations that wield power in the political system. His devotion was to the truth, more so than conservatism, and going forward I hope that’s what inspires people.”
GraniteGrok is attending with about another 100 bloggers and citizen journalists flocking inbound to a series of workshops, training sessions, and networking. And yes, to honor the memory of Andrew Breitbart. Given our first forays into investigative reporting, am hoping to learn a few tips and techniques that we can immediately turn around and use back here in NH
