Barb Bierman Batie, a veteran reporter and photographer who worked for Cozad, Norfolk, North Platte and Lexington newspapers, then went on to be a correspondent for the Midwest Messenger and other publications, is the 2026 inductee into the Marian Andersen Nebraska Women Journalists Hall of Fame, honored April 25. Ceremonies were conducted during the Nebraska Press Women (NPW) spring convention banquet at Country Inn and Suites in Lincoln.
Bierman Batie, who passed away in 2025, grew up on a farm and graduated from Battle Creek High School, going on to earn a degree in home economics and journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
She began her journalism career with the Tri-City Tribune in Cozad, then worked in Norfolk before marrying Don Batie and living with him on their Lexington area farm. She continued to work for area newspapers and volunteered with many area organizations throughout her life. Among the groups that benefited from her expertise were the Nebraska Rural Radio Foundation and the Nebraska Sesquicentennial Commission. She was the only reporter invited on the Nebraska Governor’s Trade Mission to Germany in 2019 and was invited into Nebraska Hall of Ag Achievement membership in 2022. Her writing and photos appeared in more than a dozen publications.
Nebraska Press Women formed the Marian Andersen Nebraska Women Journalists Hall of Fame in 2011, with six women in the inaugural class. There are now 38 women in the hall. The purpose of this hall of fame is to recognize working women journalists, who through talent, initiative, intelligence, persistence and stamina, have made a difference for the profession, for their communities and for those who follow in their footsteps. The hall is sponsored by and named for the late Marian Andersen, a graduate of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Andersen agreed to be the exclusive sponsor of the hall. Her endowment continues to make it possible to honor women journalists. The hall of fame is located at the UNL College of Journalism & Mass Communications in Andersen Hall.