Recipients

     Bruce Sagan has spent more than half a century reporting, writing and publishing for and about the neighborhoods and the communities of the Chicago area.
     He has been publisher of the Hyde Park Herald for 58 years and, during his journalism career, has published weekly papers in 40 Chicago areas and started a new regional daily newspaper in the south Chicago suburbs. The paper, now called the Southtown/Star, is part of the Sun/Times media group where Sagan is a member of the corporate Board of Directors.
     Mr. Sagan has been President of the Illinois Press Association and a founding director of the Suburban Newspapers of America. He has published newspapers in four states, been a consultant to the Washington Post and Media General, been a partner of the English company that publishes the Financial Times and worked with the New York Times on developing their national edition.
     He consulted for Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism on revising the curriculum for the 21st century.
     Mr. Sagan has served as Vice Chairman of the Chicago Public Library Board and Chairman of the Illinois Arts Council.
     His interest in the problems of urban renewal and affordable housing led to his being Chairman of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, and Secretary of the Chicago Housing Authority. He was appointed to Federal commissions by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson having to do with banking and housing. Sagan chaired a not for profit association that built over a thousand units of affordable housing in the inner city.
     He is on the Board of Directors of the Steppenwolf Theater Company, the Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and serves on the Management Committee of Chicago’ classical music radio station, WFMT.

     Bette Cerf Hill is a painter, poet and a community activist interested in art, education, and land use planning which includes historic preservation. Ms. Hill served as both staff and as a member of the Illinois Arts Council. Ms. Hill was Deputy Commissioner of the Bicentennial Commission, a state agency and the Executive Director of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, a not for profit organization and a board member of The Chicago Architecture Foundation.
     In 1980, she created the Near South Planning Board, a civic organization to change the perception of the long abandoned area through a series of cultural activities. Hill was part of a team of twenty Chicago women who presented Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party. Hill, with Robert Wislow and others, produced Sculpture Chicago.
     Hill founded the Printers Row Book Fair that offers free literary programs for the public with booksellers and authors bringing literature out into the sunshine in downtown Chicago. The fair also spawned a national literary award named after the new Central library, which was named after Chicago's first African American Mayor and avid reader, Harold Washington. The program supports bringing children's authors into 3rd grade public school classrooms to teach creative writing and stimulate reading.
     Hill has served as a State of Illinois, Public Art Advisory Committee Member and served on the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women. Hill is a founding advisory board member of the Rush Neurological Behavioral Center for children with brain-based problems.
     Hill is a founding board member of the Young Women's Leadership Charter School of Chicago, the college preparatory public school serves inner city girls from 7th through 12th grades with emphasis on math, science and technology.
     She is a recipient of the Illinois Humanities Council, Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award and in 2012 she self-published a book of poems.

Honorary Chairs
The Honorable Pat Quinn
Governor, State of Illinois

The Honorable Rahm Emanuel
Mayor, City of Chicago

Event Co-Chairs
Jack Guthman
Joel F. Henning
Martha Lavey
Robert Wislow

Host Committee

Visionary ($15,000 and up)
David Herro and Jay Franke

Benefactor ($10,000 and up)
Richard and Gail Elden

Patron ($5,000 and up)

Sponsor ($2,500 and up)

Sustainer ($1,250 and up)

Supporter ($750 and up)

Contributors

A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PUBLIC FUNDERS AND BOOK DONORS

The Illinois Arts Council (Shirley Madigan, Chairman), the Illinois General Assembly, and the
National Endowment for the Humanities.

Harper Collins, University of Illinois Press, and U.S.Equities

Last Updated: 05/24/12