Cynthia Booker, the Digital Video Production Career Technical Education teacher at Heights High School, has been awarded the Journalism Educator of the Year for her exceptional work by the Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists (GCLEABJ) at their inaugural Hall of Fame ceremony on February 22.

Mrs. Booker was one of three educators in the journalism educator category and the only nominee representing a high school. The other educators represented Kent State University and Cuyahoga Community College. She was selected by her peers and members of the GCLEABJ for her commitment to journalism education in and out of the classroom.

“I am honored to be in the inaugural Hall of Fame class of journalists for the Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists,” said Cynthia Booker. “I know that I stand on the shoulders of those who have paved the way. I strive to be the best for my students as a journalist and media educator in the classroom at Heights High School."

Before becoming the Digital Video Production teacher at Heights High, Cynthia Booker was an anchor/reporter working at WOIO-TV in Cleveland, WKBN-TV in Youngstown and at other stations in Buffalo, NY, South Carolina, and Mississippi. She is also a two-time Emmy winner; her first one being for her interview with Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother, serving a life sentence for killing her two sons. Booker’s second second Emmy was for documenting a Cleveland organization’s mission trip to Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists is an affiliate chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) The mission of the GCLEABJ is to serve and strengthen the community by honestly reflecting the past, accurately reporting the present with perspective, and providing support, inspiration, fellowship and opportunities for journalists of color.