The Society of Professional Journalists Virginia Pro chapter is proud to award retired WAVY newscaster Don Roberts the 2022 LIfetime Achievement Award.
The award presentation event will take place in the fall of 2023 in the Hampton Roads area, at a higher education institution, together, in partnership with the host institution and the Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals.
Roberts is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, who relocated to Hampton Roads in 1981 to accept a job with WAVY-TV 10 as a reporter. He would leave WAVY-TV 10 and work at WTKR-TV as well as several other outlets before returning to WAVY-TV for good in 1989 when he launched WAVY News 10 Today. While he retired in September 2022, he still holds the record for the longest tenured news anchor on a singular broadcast in Hampton Roads television history. For three decades Don awoke before the sunrise from his Newport News home to drive to Portsmouth to deliver the news, even the bad, with a smile and integrity. Don has served as a role model and mentor for countless other up and coming broadcasters. Don took the time to spotlight the region’s children in foster care in a segment called “Wednesday’s Child.” Don introduced viewers to children in foster care waiting for adoption and children hoping to be matched with adult volunteer mentors. On top of his duties on TV, Don made it his mission to try and disrupt the cycle of violence in our community by launching the Chess Nutz Knights Network in 2017. Don has spent countless hours at Newport News Juvenile Services as well as the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office playing chess and mentoring incarcerated teens.
Since 1964, the SPJ Virginia Pro Chapter has bestowed an annual award “to honor a journalist or friend of journalism of exceptional character and dedication to the craft.” Nominations for the SPJ Virginia Pro chapter Lifetime Achievement Award open up each fall.
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