About the Honorees

Sarah-Ann Shaw is a lifelong resident of Roxbury.  She has been an activist for most of her personal and professional life.  In 1969, Shaw was hired as the first Black woman reporter at WBZ-TV, where she worked for 31 years as a general assignment reporter.  Throughout her career, Shaw covered a wide range of daily news stories, and also developed special reports that illustrated positive contributions made by Black, Asian, and Latino residents of Massachusetts.  Her stories provided positive images of urban life while giving balance to those most often underrepresented by media outlets.  Shaw serves as a board member of several institutions such as Boston Neighborhood Network TV, The Friends of Dudley Library Inc., Boston Senior Homecare, and The League of Women for Community Service.  Click here for Sarah Ann Shaw’s full biography. 

Carmen Fields is a well-known print and broadcast journalist, communications specialist, and philanthropist. She was a part of the Boston Globe team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of school desegregation in Boston, and had reporting/anchor roles at WHDH-TV and WGBH-TV.  Fields currently hosts and produces Higher Ground, a monthly half-hour television show that examines moral, ethical and other issues. She was named on of “Boston’s 100 Most Influential People” by Get Konnected in 2016, and currently serves as an advisory board member for The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum and an council member for the Boston University Black Alumni Leadership Council (BALC).

Reverend Liz Walker is Pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church in the heart of Boston where she leads the Cory Johnson Program for Post Traumatic Healing (CJP). Reverend Walker’s calling as a minister is the latest and highest reach of a life journey that includes 11 years of humanitarian work in South Sudan, one of Africa’s most troubled countries, and 21 years as Boston’s first African American Television News Anchor on WBZ TV.  Reverend Walker has been inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and has won two Emmy Awards.  Her coverage of Sudan led to an Edward R. Murrow Award for a News Story by the Regional Television Radio News Director's Association in 2002.  Click here for Reverend Liz Walker’s full biography.