#MediaMonday – SPJ Honors Local Journalism Excellence
The team at HMA has been all smiles since learning that the Valley of the Sun Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) announced its First Amendment Award winners in recent days, recognizing outstanding work done by members of the state’s media that substantially made use of public records in 2013.
Being in business for almost 35 years, we’ve been lucky enough to work with many of them.
Here is a quick view of this year’s honorees:
- Morgan Loew, CBS 5/AZ-KPHO, for “Sheriff Arpaio’s SVU”
- Craig Harris, Beth Duckett and Dustin Gardiner, The Arizona Republic, for “Arizona’s public pension systems”
- Wendy Halloran, KPNX-TV, for “Phoenix Fire Department arson squad members’ false claims”
- Craig Harris (again!) and Rob O’Dell, The Arizona Republic, for “Troubled youths abused at residential treatment centers”
- Arizona Daily Star, and education reporter Alexis Huicochea, team leader Joe Burchell, and Editor Bobbie Jo Buel, for lawsuit, “Pressing TUSD to release superintendent candidates’ names”
Also being honored this year are media professionals who have had long and distinguished careers in Arizona, including Gary Nelson, formerly of The Arizona Republic, who will receive the chapter’s highest honor, the Phil Alvidrez Award for Excellence in Journalism.
And, joining this group being honored on Saturday, September 20 at the award luncheon will be new inductees to the Order of the Silver Key Society, which honors journalists who have been in the profession for at least 25 years, a significant majority of which were in Arizona, who have conspicuously contributed to the journalism profession and have inspired fellow journalists.
They are:
- Pete Aleshire, Editor-in-Chief, Payson Roundup
- Ed Sharpe of the Glendale Daily Planet
- Kathy Tulumello, Business editor, The Arizona Republic
For more information, please visit phoenixspj.org.
