SPJ/LA Distinguished Journalists Banquet, Oct. 19, 2022
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The Greater Los Angeles Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will honor six local journalists, two student journalists and a First Amendment champion at its Distinguished Journalists Awards Banquet on Oct. 19 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
The honorees include longtime journalists in print, television, audio and digital media, as well as two- and four-year student journalists. The award winners are:
NEWSPAPER/PRINT (larger circulation): Doug Smith; staff writer, Los Angeles Times
NEWSPAPER/PRINT (smaller circulation): Alessandra Bergamin, freelance journalist
TELEVISION: Kelvin Washington, anchor, Spectrum News 1
AUDIO: Ian Masters, broadcast journalist and host of nationally syndicated news radio program Background Briefing
DIGITAL: Lexis-Olivier Ray, investigative multimedia reporter, L.A. Taco
VISUAL: Rick Adams, photojournalist, formerly Spectrum News 1
Jennifer Medina, New York Times
The chapter will also recognize the work of two student journalists: Loyola Marymount University graduate Verónica Bäcker-Peral; and Santa Monica College student Guadalupe Perez.
The Freedom of Information Award will go to Duffy Carolan, a partner at the law firm Jassy Vick Carolan.
Keynote speaker: Jennifer Medina is a national politics reporter with the New York Times, covering political attitudes and power, with a focus on the West.
SPJ/LA presents the Distinguished Journalists awards to members of the profession who demonstrate good news judgment, a strong sense of ethics and a passion for getting the story right. Honorees have achieved a record of career accomplishments. For more than four decades, the chapter has recognized reporters, editors and photographers in print and broadcast journalism.
Since 1997, the chapter has honored journalists in four categories: television, radio, newspapers with a circulation of less than 90,000 and newspapers with a circulation of 90,000 or more.
The Distinguished Work in New Media award, now simply the Distinguished Journalist award in the digital category, was created in 2008 and is given to a journalist who uses digital media’s unique characteristics and capabilities while striving to uphold traditional journalism’s highest standards of honesty, accuracy, responsibility and accountability.
This year categories were added to recognize visual journalists, audio journalists, including podcasters, and student journalists for their body of work.
The Freedom of Information award honors a non-journalist who has helped promote First Amendment issues. Previous winners have worked in the legal profession, academia, government, and nonprofit organizations.
For banquet questions, please email spjlosangeles@gmail.com.