SPJ President Sonny Albarado today condemned the Department of Justice’s secret seizure of two months’ worth of business and personal phone records of reporters for The Associated Press.
Calling the action “shameful and outrageous,” Albarado said the incident once again points up the need for a federal shield law.
The full text of Albarado’s statement is available at the SPJ website.
Posted in Society of Professional Journalists |
May 7, 2013
Dear College Journalists, Students, Professors and Financial Aid Officers:
The application deadline the for two college journalism scholarships of $1,500 each, available to rising juniors or seniors attending a Virginia college or university, has been extended. The Virginia SPJ,SDX Educational Foundation awards the scholarships annually, with support from Society of Professional Journalists, Virginia Pro Chapter. Applications must be postmarked on or before June 1, 2013.
Applicants are not required to be journalism majors, but they must demonstrate intent to pursue a career in journalism (print, broadcast and/or online media). Both winners will be recognized at the annual George Mason Award Banquet, held in May to honor a person who has supported freedom of the press and contributed significantly to Virginia journalism.
The foundation and the chapter have awarded scholarships to aspiring journalists annually since 1971. Previous scholarship winners now work at the highest levels in national, state and local journalism. This scholarship award on a resume distinguishes an applicant as one of the most talented students entering the profession.
Please encourage students from your college or university to apply by posting and distributing photocopies of this letter and application on your campus. Information and applications also can be downloaded from http://spjva.com/scholarship/. However, applications must be completed on paper and submitted by postal mail. Should you have questions or need assistance, please contact me at clissasengland@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Clissa S. England
SPJ Scholarship Chair
Posted in Updates |
Students at four Virginia universities won five national first-place awards in the 2012 Mark of Excellence Awards, announced today by the Society of Professional Journalists. The competition honors work that was published or broadcast during 2012.
Three schools won their MOE awards in the newspaper category:
National Winner: “UVa-Wise mourns Chancellor David Prior’s death,” by Jordan Fifer, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise
National Winner: “Real Impact: How a dangerous fake ID website was shut down by an article,” by John McAuliff, University of Richmond
National Winner: “Justice denied? Richmond ALJ hearing Social Security claims has one of the highest denial rates,” by Sean Collins-Smith and Brandon Shulleeta, Virginia Commonwealth University
Washington & Lee University earned two MOE awards in the online category:
National Winner: “Poor diet: Not enough food and the wrong kind,” by Billy Crosby, Tory Dickerson, Killeen King and Jessica Strait, Washington and Lee University
National Winner: The Rockbridge Report, Washington and Lee University
First-place national winners will be recognized at the Excellence in Journalism conference in late August in Anaheim, Calif.
Congratulations!
Posted in Updates |
The Supreme Court of Virginia has taken up a case that could resolve some inconsistencies in the commonwealth’s cameras-in-the-courtroom statute.
One part of the law says cameras come in only if the judge lets them and another passage indicates they come in unless the judge can state a good reason not to allow them.
SPJ member Peter Vieth has put together a nice piece on the case for Virginia Lawyers Weekly, explaining the law and the case before the court. He talked several local professional broadcaster groups for their take on the case.
Posted in Trends |
This Thursday, April 25, we’ll discuss diversity in today’s newsrooms with Irv Harrell, urban team leader for The Virginian-Pilot. This program will begin at 7 p.m. at the Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave. in Norfolk. We hope to see you at these upcoming events!
Posted in Updates | Tagged diversity, journalism, Society of Professional Journalists, SPJ |
The chapter must conduct a review of its finances for the current year by May 1, 2013, in order to comply with annual report requirements established by SPJ national. I am seeking three chapter members who are not currently serving on the chapter board of directors or our scholarship board of directors to serve as reviewers.
The job should take no more than a half-hour and can be done in one meeting, either during the workday, over lunch, or in the evening at my home. Reviewers will examine the chapter checkbook to confirm that expenditures were justified and that support exists for each one. If necessary, the reviewers would report any irregularities to the chapter president for further action. Meanwhile, the reviewers will also be asked to sign a statement for the annual report that they have examined the books.
If you can perform this service for the chapter, please contact me by email as soon as possible with dates and times from April 24-30, 2013, when you would be available for a review meeting. Your assistance is greatly needed.
If you are available, please contact Brian H. Eckert ,Treasurer, SPJ Virginia Pro Chapter
at (804) 287-6659 or beckert@richmond.edu
Posted in Updates |
The winners of the 2013 Virginia Press Women Communications Contest were announced last Saturday at VPW’s spring conference, held April 13 in Lexington.
Forty-one individuals received 148 awards (57 first place, 45 second place, 25 third place and 21 honorable mention) in the competition.
Categories such as newspaper writing, public relations, advertising, photo journalism, Internet and magazine writing, and books were judged by 10 experienced journalists and public relations professionals. Entries that received first place advance to the National Federation of Press Women contest.
The full list of award winners is available here
This year, for the first time, there was a tie for Sweepstakes Winner. The 2013 Sweepstakes Winners are Marty van Duyne, a writer and photographer from Falmouth, and Patty Kruszewski, managing editor of The Henrico Citizen.
The sweepstakes recipient is determined by a point system that considers the total number of entries submitted to the contest and the number and level (first, second, third, honorable mention) of awards received.
Posted in Updates |
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