SPJVA was a finalist for the society’s national Small Chapter of the Year award for 2020-21. The award, announced during SPJ’s national convention, went to the Cincinnati Pro Chapter.
SPJVA competed for the honor with other chapters that have fewer than 75 members. The other finalists were SPJ Georgia, Indiana Pro Chapter, Minnesota Pro Chapter, St. Louis Pro Chapter, Fort Worth Pro Chapter, Rio Grande Pro Chapter, Arkansas Pro Chapter and Inland NW Pro Chapter.
SPJVA was recognized for activities conducted between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021. During that year, the Virginia Pro Chapter conducted several programs for journalists and the general public, including an online discussion with Dorothy Butler Gilliam, the first Black woman reporter at The Washington Post and author of a recent memoir titled “Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America.”
In addition, the SPJ chapter at Virginia Tech was named the Outstanding Campus Chapter for Region 2, which includes Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and D.C. Virginia Tech also won the regional Campus Program of the Year award.
Robin Reed, the faculty adviser for SPJ’s Virginia Tech Chapter, is a member of the board of directors for the SPJ Virginia Pro Chapter.
