Rochester Institute of Technology is seeking nominations for its Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing. The award, named for one of America's great patriot printers, recognizes outstanding contributions made to the publishing industry. RIT's School of Print Media will honor the award recipient next April. The deadline for nominations is Tuesday, Dec. 15.

Nomination forms are available for download either at http://cias.rit.edu/printmedia or http://cias.rit.edu/itap 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 importance of technology and who continually look for ways to utilize cross media publishing channels," says Twyla Cummings, Paul and Louise Miller Distinguished Professor at RIT.

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.

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. Legend has it that Thomas rode with Paul Revere to rouse the militia for the battles of Lexington and Concord. He continued his publishing career after the Revolutionary War, and in 1810 wrote The History of Printing in America, regarded as the basic source of information on early American printing and publishing.