Julie Harris Joins Staff of KSD

More than 20 years ago and just down the street from where her desk now sits, a father taught his young daughter how to wax and paste her first newspaper page.

In that Pulaski Week production room, Julie Nelson Harris's love for creativity began. And after applying that creativity to a 10-year career in community journalism and freelance graphic design, she's energized to be working in her hometown as the newest member of the Kirby Stephens Design team.

Harris joined KSD in November 2010. A graduate of Somerset High School, Harris earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism at the University of Kentucky in 2001. Her professional experience includes being graphic designer and copy editor for The Jessamine Journal (Nicholasville, Ky.), news editor for The Richmond Register (Richmond, Ky.), managing editor and publisher for The Oldham Era (La Grange, Ky.) and, most recently, managing editor for The Sentinel-Echo (London, Ky.). She is a graduate of the Landmark Community Newspaper Inc. General Manager Training Program and was selected by LCNI to attend the American Press Institute just outside Washington, D.C., in 2007.

Harris also spent a year as the assistant director for marketing and public relations for the Kentucky Humanities Council Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding humanities programs across the state.

Under Harris's watch, The Oldham Era was the first-place recipient of the Kentucky Press Association's General Excellence Award five years in a row. She has received numerous KPA, Society for Professional Journalists and LCNI awards for excellence in writing and newspaper design. In 2005, she was honored with LCNI's Max Heath Gold Star Award for Everyday Excellence in Community Journalism. The award is named for one of her mentors, newspaper circulation and postal guru Max Heath, who is known for marking good work with a gold star and an encouraging note written in purple ink.

Harris lives near Shopville with her husband, Dwain, and son, Matthew.