The first nine years of the Southern Regional Press Institute were developmental years. The Press Institute began in 1951 from the First Annual Press Workshop held on May 2-4, 1951 for members of the Savannah State College Press Club under the aegis of Miss Luetta Colvin. The Southern Regional Press Institute developed from this Press Workshop.

The first Southern Regional Press Institute, as we know it today, was founded by the late Wilton C. Scott, then director of public relations at the University (then College), on April 3-4, 1952 and was called the First Annual Statewide Interscholastic Press Institute.

It is significant to note that Savannah State College was one of the few predominantly black colleges in America in the early 1950s to develop a scholastic press association.

The 1960s were the years in which the Southern Regional Press Institute matured and developed into a regionally and nationally known scholastic press association. Prior to 1965, the Institute was attended primarily by black high school and college students. However, it continued in the 1960s, as it had done since its founding in 1952, to feature an integrated group of speakers and journalism consultants for its programs.

From 1961 to 1969, famous white and black speakers served as the main attraction to the Press Institute. It is important to note that Marion Jackson, then sports editor of the Atlanta Daily World, served as a consultant to the Institute without interruption from 1952-1969. Jackson rendered many valuable services to the development of the Press Institute as advocate, speaker, consultant, and representative of one of the few black daily newspapers in America in the 1960s.

Louis J. Corsetti, mentor of Lawrence Walsh and faculty adviser to the "Duke" student newspaper at Duquesne University, brought Walsh to the attention of Wilton C. Scott. Scott met Corsetti in the summer of 1963 at Duquesne University while he was serving as a Wall Street Journal Fellow. This friendship led Corsetti to Savannah in 1963 where he served as a consultant to the Press Institute throughout the remainder of the 1960s. Corsetti also served from 1966-1970 as a teacher in the Savannah State College Summer Journalism Workshop which was funded by the Wall Street Journal Newspaper Fund.

During the 1970s, the Southern Regional Press Institute went through a period of transition and redefinition. From 1970-1979, the Press Institute had five directors and no individual served as director for more than two years.

The highlights of the 1970s included the 25th Anniversary Celebration, the creation of the "Silver Star" Awards, and the establishment of the first Robert S. Abbott Memorial Award in 1975 by Charles J. Elmore, director, and the Robert S. Abbott Publishing Company of Chicago, Illinois .

Throughout the 1980s the Press Institute continued to stabilize and develop a modern program of journalism for its participants. The Institute developed a program that sought to give student journalists one-on-one experiences with professional print and broadcast journalists. Additionally, there was a focus on providing college seniors the opportunity to meet with recruiters from professional media outlets. Charles J. Elmore passed the mantle of leadership of the Press Institute to Mrs. Novella Cross Holmes in 1986.

Professor Holmes has developed the Southern Regional Press Institute into one of the finest scholastic press associations in America. Under her direction, the Institute grew in size and stature. A Southern Regional Press Institute Planning Committee was established, a regional job fair was developed, and new workshops were added to the Institute's agenda. Additionally, the Luetta Colvin Milledge Awards Luncheon and the Louise Owens Press Institute Luncheon were established. A new award, the Louis R. Lautier Memorial Award For Career Achievement, was also established in 1997. The number of grants awarded to the Institute was also increased.

The Southern Regional Press Institute has had seven directors: Mr. Wilton C. Scott (1952-1972), Dr. Harold Jackson (1973-1974), Dr. Charles J. Elmore (1974-1975; 1980-1986), Mr. Augustus Howard (1977-1978), Mrs. Beautine Hardwick (1979), Dr. George O'Neill (1992) and Dr. Dan Inyang (1994-96) and Professor Novella Cross Holmes (1987 to 1991; 1993; 1997-present).

LUETTA COLVIN MILLEDGE
Scholar-Teacher, Poet, Giver of Self, Visionary

Dr. Luetta Colvin Milledge, former department head and professor of English and humanities at Savannah State College earned the bachelor's, master's and doctor's degrees summa cum laude from Fort Valley State College, Atlanta University and the University of Georgia, respectively. A Phi Beta Kappa, she has earned many citations and awards for achievement in diverse fields and for the distinguished contributions to education. In working with the Southern Regional Press Institute, she inspired participants to embrace the rigorous and comprehensive search for knowledge that characterizes her own academic preparation and unceasing quest.

In 1951, in a room in Boggs Hall, an ante-bellum plantation house serving as a dormitory for Savannah State University (then College) women, the budding instructor, Luetta Colvin, conducted a journalism workshop for the Tiger's Roar staff and other interested students. From this seminal event, Col. Wilton Scott developed the 1952 conference bringing together campus students and journalism students from local schools, which, with Milledge's continuing collaboration and leadership, has grown from her one-day journalism workshop into the present two-day, comprehensive media event.

Dr. Milledge has served in virtually every capacity related to the Press Institute -- often in several positions simultaneously. She has served as co-director, assistant director and associate director, many times over. She has chaired registration, announced ratings and presented awards to participating schools. She has filled unfilled niches, without advance notice, when surrogates have been needed to direct critiquing sessions, to lead panel discussions, to be a ready resource for information and expertise.

She has been named honorary chair and honorary co-chair of the SRPI and in 1985, was designated a member of the "permanent core of consultants." She has more than once received the Distinguished Service Plaque, and in 1982 was honored with the second Annual Wilton C. Scott Award for Scholastic Journalism. The 1990 luncheon was named "The Luetta Colvin Milledge Awards Luncheon."

Because of her vision during the early and middle years of the Press Institute, students have been exposed to an amazing and elite coterie of media practitioners and policy-makers: radio and television producers, newspaper and magazine publishers and editors, and deans and professors of schools of journalism.

Having always had a special love for journalism, she has been unswervingly dedicated to the success of the Institute and realization of its educational potential.

LOUISE LAUTIER OWENS
Professor Emerita

A colleague of the late Wilton C. Scott, founder of the SRPI, Professor Louise Lautier Owens rendered invaluable assistance during the formative years of the Institute, and has continued through the years to work actively in its development.

The myriad responsibilities Owens has undertaken include consultancies and directorship of workshops in feature writing, literary magazine production, editorial writing and news writing.

She has been assistant director of the Institute, chair of registration, introducer of keynote speakers, program editor and, since 1988, a member of the SRPI Planning Committee. For all of these assignments she has brought the same incisive perspective and indefatigable attention to duty that earned her the Professor Emerita of English honorific upon retirement from her distinguished teaching career. In a retirement, Owens has continued to serve the Institute as a member of the planning and editing committees.

Owens is a recipient of the Wilton C. Scott Award for Excellence in Scholastic Journalism in recognition of her contribution in preparing and inspiring hundreds of students to become journalists. In acknowledgment of her continuing dedication to serving the SRPI and remaining always a on call, the Planning Committee in 1990 designated one of the two institute luncheons as The Louise Lautier Owens Press Institute Luncheon.

Mrs. Owens is the daughter of the late Louis R. Lautier, distinguished journalist in whose honor the Memorial Award for Career Achievement was established in 1997.