WASHINGTON, D.C., October 25, 2023 — The Washington Association of Black Journalists (WABJ) today announced that Denise Rolark-Barnes, publisher and second-generation owner of The Washington Informer, is the 2023 recipient of the WABJ President’s Award.
The WABJ president presents this award annually to a member who has made significant contributions to the organization’s growth and reach in the D.C. area. Rolark Barnes will be honored at the WABJ Special Honors & Scholarship Gala on Saturday, December 2, at the Armour J. Blackburn University Center on the campus of Howard University.
“The Informer, under Denise Rolark Barnes’ leadership, has been a long-time partner and supporter of our longstanding Urban Journalism Workshop for D.C. area high school students, and its support of WABJ’s inaugural awards gala last year was instrumental to its tremendous success,” said WABJ President Khorri Atkinson.
She added, “WABJ is a volunteer-run organization that heavily relies on membership engagement and contributions to thrive and meet the needs of this moment in our industry. The WABJ Executive Board appreciates Ms. Rolark Barnes’ contributions and her unwavering dedication to journalistic excellence and advocacy for the D.C. Black community.”
Rolark-Barnes succeeded her father, the late Dr. Calvin W. Rolark Sr., who in 1964 founded the award-wining weekly newspaper serving the African American community in D.C. She has not only demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to community building throughout her tenure at the Informer, but also worked assiduously to ensure the publication is a trusted source of news and information about the local Black community.
One of her most significant achievements has been leveraging digital strategies to bolster the Informer’s online presence, an accomplishment that recently earned her the Sales and Marketing Innovator of the Year award by Local Media Association. As Barnes continues to champion diversity, inclusion, and social progress through her work, she remains an inspiring figure and an advocate for positive change.
Rolark Barnes is a past chair National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). She serves on the boards of several local non-profit, community and municipal organizations, including the Washington Convention and Sports Authority (Events DC), the DC Martin Luther King Holiday Commission, National Newspaper Publishers Association Fund, the Maryland, Delaware, DC Press Association, and the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, and the Pan African Collective. She is also a member of Leadership Greater Washington, as well as an inductee in the D.C. Hall of Fame.
Founded in 1975, the Washington Association of Black Journalists is an organization of more than 300 Black journalists, educators, public relations professionals and student journalists in the Washington, D.C., metro area. WABJ provides members with ongoing professional development opportunities and advocates for newsroom diversity, equity and inclusion.
WABJ was named 2023 Professional Chapter of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.
