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Ambrose honored by state with Lifetime Achievement Award
Celebrated	author
Stephen E. Ambrose, Jazz musician Russell Thomas, Jr. and patron Sally W. Carmichael are among the eight recipients of the 2002 Governor?s Awards for Excellence in the Arts.
Winners of the awards were announced recently by the Mississippi Arts Commission, which coordinates the awards program.
The winners will accept their awards at the 14th annual ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15 in the House Chamber of the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson.
"The awards recognize those who have made extraordinary contributions to the artistic and cultural life in Mississippi and beyond," said Tim Hedgepeth, executive director.
"These individuals and institutions are much more than award winners. Through their dedicated work, they show us how our schools and communities are made stronger through the arts."
Award categories and the number of recipients vary I annually at the discretion of the judges.
Judges for the 2002 awards are Patty Hall, Hattiesburg, executive director of the Hattiesburg Arts Council; Lester Senter, Jackson, mezzo-soprano and winner of the 2001 Artist?s Achievement Award; Theo Inman
Vaughey, Jackson, costume designer and arts patron; and Bernard Williams, Chicago, painter and instructor of art at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove will I speak at the ceremony and present the awards. Artist William	Dunlap, who
received	a Governor's
Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1991, will again serve as master of ceremonies, as he has since 1992.
The program is free and open to the public.
Each year the award features the work of a Mississippi artist. This year's winners will receive 16-inch glass sculptures designed and constructed by Elizabeth Robinson of Jackson.
The commemorative poster was designed by Vidal Blankenstein and features photography by Tom Joynt highlighting an intarsia (inlaid) marble top pedestal table, circa 1830, which graces the Front Rose Parlor of the historic Mississippi . Governor?s Mansion.
The ceremony will include performances by some of the winners, as well as other Mississippi musicians.
Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose is a distinguished historian and acclaimed author of more than 20 books. Among
his New York Times bestsellers are Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of WWII and Undaunted Courage.
His most recent book, Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869, topped the New York Times Bestseller list its first week out.
Ambrose is a retired Boyd Professor of History at the University of New Orleans. He is the Director Emeritus of the Eisenhower Center in New Orleans and is the founder of the National D-Day Museum.
He is a contributing editor for the Quarterly Journal of Military History, a member of the board of directors, for American Rivers and a member of the
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council board.
He was the historical consultant for Steven Spielberg's movie Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg and Torn Hanks purchased the film rights to his books Citizen Soldiers and Band of Brothers, and are executive producers of the HBO miniseries, "Band of Brothers," which debuted in September 2001.
Ambrose has also participated in numerous national television programs, working with the History Channel and National Geographic.
He and his son, Hugh Ambrose, are currently conducting research for a new book entitled Citizen Soldiers of the Pacific, dealing with the Pacific Theater of WWII.