The Isaiah Thomas Award was established in 1979 by the School of Printing Management and Sciences (now School of Print Media) at Rochester Institute of Technology to honor leaders in the newspaper industry. The RIT Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing is named in tribute to an early leader of the American printing industry. In 1779, Isaiah Thomas established The Massachusetts Spy at a print shop known as "the sedition factory" by the British colonial government. Additionally in 1810 he wrote The History of Printing in America, which was regarded as the basic source of information on early American printing and publishing.

Rochester Institute of Technology is seeking nominations for its Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing. The award, recognizes outstanding contributions made to the publishing industry. RIT's School of Print Media will honor the award recipient next spring. The deadline for nominations is January 15, 2011 and nomination forms are available at http://www.rit.edu/cias/newsmedia/isaiah-thomas-award-in-publishing or by calling Lisa DeRomanis in RIT’s School of Print Media at (585) 475-2728.

This award has a long history and we want to continue the legacy of Isaiah Thomas by honoring people in the news media industry who recognize the important of technology and who continually look for ways to utilize cross media publishing channels. Past recipients of the award include Thomas Curley, president and chief executive officer of the Associated Press; Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of The New York Times Co. and publisher of The New York Times, John W. Seybold, founder of the Seybold Consulting Group; and William Burleigh, chairman of E.W. Scripps Co.

Thank you for your assistance in selecting the 2011 recipient of the Isaiah Thomas Award