A veteran small town newspaper editor and publisher and a college news bureau director and journalism instructor were the 2024 inductees into the Marian Andersen Nebraska Women Journalists Hall of Fame this weekend. Ceremonies were conducted Saturday night during the Nebraska Press Women’s (NPW) spring convention banquet at the Dawson County Museum.
Osceola native Velma Price was a post-humous inductee, honored for her 35 years as editor and publisher of the Newman Grove Reporter, as well as serving as Nebraska’s first president of the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) in 1955.
Price earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Nebraska in 1935 and 1938, respectively. She taught in Polk and Merrick Counties for 12 years, served as grade school principal in Valentine High School for one year and then taught high school for seven years at Newman Grove.
In 1942 she entered the world of journalism when she married Frederick W. Price, owner and publisher of the Reporter. Noted Newman Grove native Judy Nelson in her nomination letter, “She carried a teacher’s respect for facts and accuracy and clarity with her into her new career.”
Less than a week after returning from the NFPW convention where she was elected the national organization’s president, her husband died from a heart attack, thrusting her into the roles of editor and publisher of the Reporter, a position she would hold for 35 years.
During her tenure as NFPW President, the Woman of Achievement Award was established, later known as the Communicator of Achievement. As states adopted the Woman of Achievement award, NPW named Price their honoree in 1961. She earned numerous awards in NPW and NFPW contests and was initiated into Theta Sigma Phi, honor society for women in journalism.
Active in her community Price used the lessons of involvement to pave the way for women journalists and encourage women to stand up for their rights through her column, “Observations.” She would hold those accountable who committed what she thought were wrongs and upheld those she thought deserved a fair shake.
This included editorializing in support of a local farmer caught in a federal child pornography sting. The case went to the Supreme Court to decide how far government investigators can go in such operations. Thirteen months after Velma’s death the Supreme Court voted 5-4 in Jacobson v. United States (1992), siding with the farmer.
The second inductee was Glennis Nagel. She has been a journalist since the day she became editor of her high school newspaper in Goodland, Kan., where she graduated with the Class of 1961. Nagel earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature with an emphasis on journalism from Ft. Hays State and a master’s degree at Kansas State University (KSU).
Her writing career included a part-time stint at the Hays Daily News while working on her undergraduate degree and working for the Manhattan Mercury during graduate school. She was initiated into the Theta Sigma Phi honor society for women journalists while at KSU.
When she arrived in Kearney she was hired as the first female city editor at the Kearney Hub. After a stop at KGFW Radio hosting a talk show and cutting commercials, she was hired as director of the first Kearney State College News Bureau, a position she held until her retirement. The day before fall classes were to start Glennis learned she also had to teach beginning and advanced reporting classes because the news bureau funding came from the journalism department.
Throughout her career she trained many college students in the basics of good journalism, and wherever she worked in the communications field, she made the places and their products better, especially the New Frontiers magazine produced to showcase the now University of Nebraska at Kearney’s research.
Nagel has been a member of NPW and NFPW for more than 50 years, having served as a state officer, including president, or a board member for many of those years. She is currently the NPW print-related public relations director. Within the Kearney community she’s been involved in a variety of learning experiences and until recently did public relations work for Habitat for Humanity.
Nebraska Press Women formed the Marian Andersen Nebraska Women Journalists Hall of Fame in 2011, with six women in the inaugural class. The purpose of this hall of fame is to recognize the working women journalists, who through talent, initiative, intelligence, persistence and stamina, have made a difference for the profession, for their communities and for those who follow in their footsteps. The hall of fame is sponsored by and named for the late Marian Andersen, a graduate of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Andersen agreed to be the exclusive sponsor of the hall. Her endowment continues to make it possible to honor women journalists. The hall of fame is located at the UNL College of Journalism & Mass Communications in Andersen Hall.
