June Banquet Honors Oregon Journalists; Nominations Sought for "Rookie of the Year" and "First Freedom" Award

It's that time again! Banquet time! Time for food, drinks and awards (not to mention fabulous company). Save the date for June 6 at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany.

It's centrally located, so encourage your Southern Oregon colleagues to join us. Tickets will go on sale soon and will be cheaper than they have been in recent years, $25 each.

In the meantime, send us your nominations for the following chapter awards:

Rookie of the Year: This award goes to a journalist who had his or her first full-time reporting job during 2014. Internships do not count, but nominees can have been hired full-time at any point during the year.

Editors should submit a letter of recommendation and three clips. Submissions should be mailed to Hannah Hoffman, 4159 River Road N., Keizer, OR 97303. Deadline for submissions is May 29.

Winner receives a $500 cash award.

First Freedom award: This award goes to a nonjournalist who has worked to push for more open records and government in Oregon. Examples in the past have included district attorneys, nonprofits and citizen bloggers. Nominations should demonstrate a tangible impact of some kind and should be submitted to the address listed above. Deadline is May 29.

We hope to see you all at the banquet on June 6. It is an excellent opportunity to reconnect with the journalism community, to share stories and to appreciate each other and the important work we do.

Please forward this notice to anyone in your newsrooms who may be interested in either nominating someone for an award or attending our event in June.

See you in June,

SPJ Oregon President Hannah Hoffman

Bruce Baer Award Honors Best of Oregon Investigative Journalism

Since 1978, the Baer Award, which carries a $1,000 prize, has been given in recognition of Oregon’s finest investigative and public affairs journalism.  Any work published or broadcast in 2014 may be nominated.  

Bruce Baer

Stories submitted for the award are judged on the quality of reporting, as well as the enterprise and courage reflected in the work, according to Friends of Bruce Baer, the group that sponsors the annual award.

Les Zaitz of The Oregonian won the award last year for “Under the Curse of Cartels,” a series exploring the widespread impact of Mexican drug cartels operating in Oregon.  Amelia Templeton of Oregon Public Broadcasting received a Special Recognition award for a story that examined the ramifications of law enforcement cutbacks in Josephine County.

Further information about the award and the nomination form can be found at http://journalism.uoregon.edu/brucebaer.

The award is in memory of Bruce Baer, who was dean of the Oregon Capitol press corps when he died of cancer at age 40. He had worked for daily newspapers and radio stations in the Pacific Northwest prior to spending 13 years at KATU-TV in Portland.

The prize will be presented June 6 at the annual awards banquet hosted by the Oregon Territory Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. This year’s event will take place on the campus of Linn-Benton Community College in Albany.

Entries should be submitted to: Dr.  Jeffrey D. Robinson, Department of Communications, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR  97207.

Links to online versions of the stories also should be included.

Questions can be directed to Roger Anthony at 503-998-5509.