Cartoonist Bagley looks back, SDX's Geimann looks forward.

Pat Bagley gave NCEW members his view of the "Brave News World" at Saturday's luncheon at the Salt Lake City convention.

That was the title of a cartoon by the 2009 Herblock Prize-winner that portrayed today's journalists voyaging like ancient mariners through a series of dangers, from bloggers to Craigslist.

"It's kind of like being on the Titanic and wondering what you're going to do," he said of the newspaper business. "Well, I guess you have to grow fins and gills."

Presenting cartoons from his 30-year career as editorial cartoonist at the Salt Lake Tribune, Bagley himself might be considered a good example of evolution and survival. In conservative Utah, he's tweaked the local culture while zinging Republicans, with some of his hardest-hitting art taking aim at President George W. Bush and his administration.

Steve Geimann, president of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, told the audience that "now is not the time for journalism or journalists to retreat from the work of keeping the public informed."

One means of moving forward has been the foundation's Pulliam Fellowship--the equivalent of a "genius grant" for editorial writers. The award was not presented in 2009, but, in response to changes in the field, the 2010 fellowship will be open to part-time editorial writers and to columnists, he said.

Bruce DePyssler, a professor at North Carolina Central University, was to be honored with the 2009 Barry Bing ham St. Fellowship, which recognizes an educator's efforts to encourage minority students in journalism. Travel problems, however, prevented him from attending.

Jim Tynen is an editorial writer for the Daily Herald in Orem, Utah. E-mail him at jtynen@ heraldextra.com.