Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet

This banquet is held in honor of our Lifetime Achievement Award recipients in Festival Ballroom on Wednesday, September 18, 2024; awards will be presented at the banquet.

Hosted by

Tony Medina

Tony Medina was born in the South Bronx, raised in the Throgs Neck Housing projects, and is a Veteran of the United States Army. Recently appointed Associate Chair and Director of Creative Writing in the Department of Literature and Writing at Howard University, he holds a master’s and PhD from Binghamton University, SUNY. A multi-genre author/editor of 25 award-winning books for adults and young people, Medina’s work appears in over 160 anthologies and journals, including “Seven Steps to Heaven Haiku” and “I’ve Got the Covid Blues,” featured in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day. Among Medina’s recent titles are the Black Lives Matter anthology, Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky (anthology); Death, With Occasional Smiling (poetry); Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy (children’s); I Am Alfonso Jones (graphic novel); Che Che Colé (fiction); Rock the Bells: For Hip Hop @ 50 (hybrid) and his Gaza suite, Because the Sky (Sable Books, 2024).

jessica Care moore

jessica Care moore is one of the leading voices of her generation. An award-winning poet, recording artist, book publisher, activist, cultural arts curator, and filmmaker, she is executive producer and founder of Black WOMEN Rock! – Daughters of Betty, a 20-year-old rock & roll institution, concert and empowerment weekend, and she is the founder of the literacy driven 501c3, The Moore Art House, her nonprofit organization in Detroit dedicated to elevating literacy through the arts in neighborhoods and schools. moore is author of five books of poetry, most recently, We Want Our Bodies Back (HarperCollins, 2020), which won the American Library Association Black Caucus Poetry Honor. She is currently in post-production on her first feature film, He Looked Like a Postcard. In 2024, she was appointed the Poet Laureate of Detroit.

Accompanied by

David Berry

David Berry’s performances as a concert pianist have been featured in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kimmel Center, and in live broadcasts of WQXR radio (New York). He is a resident member of the Harlem Chamber Players, Ritz Chamber Players, and the Core Ensemble. Berry is Chair of the Music Department and Interim Associate Dean for the School of Theology, Humanities, and the Performing Arts at Eastern Mennonite University. He also serves on the Artistic Programs Committee for the Gateways Music Festival at the Eastman School of Music, an annual festival which celebrates the contributions of musicians of African descent to classical music, and features over 120 players from major American orchestras, university faculties, and industry professionals from across the United States. Berry received his Bachelor of Music with High Distinction from the Eastman School of Music, and Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance from the Juilliard School.