A plug for an NCEW treasure.

It almost has become a ritual of the seminar. I introduce myself as an employed opinion writer and faculty member, and before I can sit down director Joan Armour calls me out. "He's also a graduate of the program," she says, giving me that schoolmarm look.

I am a product of what I believe still is one of the National Conference of Editorial Writers' most successful albeit underappreciated programs--the Minority Writers Seminar. I graduated in 1997, made it to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's editorial board a year later and received a promotion to the position of senior editorial writer.

Every year I have the good fortune, and the support of my newspaper, to return to Nashville and participate in the seminar as a faculty member, panelist, or both. NCEW had the good sense to establish the seminar in 1995 to increase diversity among opinion writers at newspapers and radio and television stations. Experienced minority journalists get the chance to learn the nuts and bolts of crafting editorials through mock editorial board meetings and a series of lectures and writing exercises. The idea is to foster the notion that opinion writing is both a worthwhile skill and career option for today's journalists.

The seminar's participants, which usually number around twenty each year, come to Nashville from all walks of journalism life and are of all hues of colors and cultures. The bulk of our students come from mainstream news papers, including a growing number of new editorial writers who benefit from the boot-camp jumpstart the program provides.

But, we've also had an African-American male who was the managing editor of The Final Call, the publication of the Nation of Islam; an Asian-American female who founded Colors Northwest magazine, and a Native American male who operates a tribal-owned radio station. Those diverse participants were driven by one thing--a desire to better understand how to better inform their audiences through opinion writing.

From day one I've been a big advocate for the program. I don't mind Armour's prodding, but I have to be modest. There are other graduates who make me look like a piker.

Within weeks after completing the very first seminar in 1996, Deborah Locke landed a job as an editorial writer at the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minnesota. She holds the distinction of being the seminar's first graduate to showcase the program's potential.

Javier Aldape graduated from the seminar in 1999. He became an editorial writer with the Fort Worth Star Telegram, but his star didn't stop there. Now he's editor of Hoy, a Spanish language newspaper published by Tribune Company with editions in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. He is responsible for news and editorial direction as well as product and audience development nationally.

More recently, Daniel Vasquez came out of the program to join the editorial page of the San Jose Mercury-News. "I've been here a year now, and have been working on some exciting issues," he said. "I really credit the seminar with helping me prepare and helping me gain the confidence to make the move from reporting to opinion writing."

Those exciting issues he spoke of made him a Pulitzer finalist, not too shabby for a newbie.

The point is, the Minority Writers Seminar has a remarkable track record, one that is finally attracting attention and resources to help this program reach an even-wider audience. NCEW should be proud of the program and its potential. But, I'd guess you'd expect that kind of bias from a guy like me.

I'm a graduate, one of potentially many more success stories to come out of this seminar.

Douglas C Lyons is a senior editorial writer with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. E-mail [e-mail]