On June 24 at the inaugural conference for the Alliance for a Media Literate America (AMLA) in Austin, Texas, Neil Andersen, Toronto teacher and consultant, was the 2001 recipient of the Jesse McCanse award from The National Telemedia Coucil for his pioneering work in media literacy. Former McAnse award winners include David Considine, John Pungente, Barry Duncan and Kathleen Tyner.
The following tribute to Neil was written by Barry Duncan for the Summer 2001 edition of Telemedium (Ntelemedia@aol.com) which was handed out to the conference participants after Neil's outstanding keynote address.
"Don't be put off by Neil's formidable size. This giant is basically a gentle little pussycat and if he seems to be quiet and contemplative, he is still not a steely-eyed Clint Eastwood with unleashed killing power ready to "Come on, "Make my day-kind of guy. A family man with three children, he not only enjoys the world of popular culture – the flesh and bones of media educators – he loves the out of doors and every summer he and his wife Judy go to a summer camp for two weeks where Neil's leadership skills are appreciated.
Neil loves to brainstorm ideas and he does not enjoy petty politics. His messages on the Internet media-L list serve as models of terse Zen koan wisdom that suit his character as an honest, no-nonsense straight shooter.
Among the most admirable things in the intellectual and pedagogical realm is his versatility and capacity for multitasking. Typical week-ends include watching a new Warner-Brothers film on a Friday , completing a study guide on the weekend,(incidentally, his guides are arguably the very best in the business) while also finishing a chapter on media for a new text book , building the new Association for Media Literacy web site and still finding time to do something with his family. That he has been a graduate student doing work at the famed Marshall McLuhan program at the University of Toronto, a computers-in-education consultant, a head of English, and now an English and media consultant for the Toronto District school board- these are all major achievements in a remarkable 25 year career. "