Minnesota SPJ

Veteran Star Tribune reporter wins highest Freedom of Information award from Minnesota SPJ

Posted on 22. May, 2010 by sarah.bauer.

Please note: full list of 2010 Page One Award winners can be found at the bottom of this post.

Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists presents the 2010 Peter S. Popovich Award to Randy Furst

St. Paul, Minn. (May 21, 2010) – The Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Awards the 2010 Peter S. Popovich Award to Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter Randy Furst.

When Randy Furst saw that members of the Metro Gang Strike Force decided to attend a conference in the sunny, vacation paradise of tropical Hawaii, he decided to see how the gathering might be important to Minnesota citizens. The original story he wrote, based on a state Data Practices Act filing, led to another about how the Task Force’s overseers violated the state Open Meeting Law to try to come up with a justification for the Hawaii trip. Randy stayed on the trail with a series of stories to ultimately uncover a corrupt arm of law enforcement that stole from innocent citizens, violated state law by destroying documents subject to an auditor’s investigation, and kept questionable financial accounting of their work.

Furst’s work on the Strike Force stories and throughout his career epitomizes the role of professional journalists who work tirelessly on behalf of the public. “His sense of hearing is extraordinary,” said Star Tribune Minneapolis Team Leader Larry Oakes, who edited Furst’s Strike Force stories. “Tell him ‘no comment,’ and he hears, ‘Ask me a different way.’ Tell him ‘get lost,’ and he hears, ‘You should drop by my house tonight.’ Tell him something’s not public, and he hears, ‘I can’t wait to get a letter from (First Amendment attorney) John Borger.’”

The award, presented since 1979, is named for the late Peter S. Popovich, a champion of open government in the Minnesota House of Representatives, as the chief judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and as the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The award was presented Friday, May 21 at SPJ’s annual Page One awards banquet at the Town & Country Club in St. Paul. The Minnesota chapter also presented awards in more than 50 categories to the state’s top print, broadcast and online journalists for their work in 2009. The full winners of the Page One awards are included with this release.

Conor Shine and Devin Henry, both from the University of Minnesota, received student scholarships awarded annually by Minnesota SPJ.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the oldest, largest and broadest-based organization of journalists in the U.S., was founded as Sigma Delta Chi in 1909. The Minnesota Chapter was founded in 1956. The chapter membership totals about 160. In 1998, the Minnesota chapter was named the national large chapter of the year.

Full list of 2010 Page One Award Winners (Excel)

Full list of 2010 Page One Award Winners (Word)

Contact:

Scott Theisen, President, MN Pro Chapter
Phone: 952-465-9921
stheisen@me.com

or

Art Hughes, board member
612-236-8302
arthughes1@comcast.net

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2010 Page One Banquet

Posted on 27. Apr, 2010 by sarah.bauer.

The Minnesota Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists cordially invites you to the 2010 Page One Awards Banquet.

This event honors the best in Minnesota journalism from 2009 and will feature

DAVID SIMON
Former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of HBO hit series “The Wire” and “Treme”

Friday, May 21, 2010
Reception begins at 5:30 p.m.
Dinner served at 7:00 p.m.

Town & Country Club
300 Mississippi River Blvd. N.
Saint Paul, MN 55104-4927

SPJ Members – $40*
Non-members – $50

*Members may purchase up to two (2) tickets at the discounted member rate.
You may register to become a member of SPJ here: http://www.spj.org/join.asp

PLEASE RSVP ONLINE BY FRIDAY, MAY 14

About our keynote speaker:
David Simon is the creator of HBO’s “The Wire” and former Baltimore Sun reporter. Simon is best known for creating and producing the hit HBO series “The Wire.” Simon got his start as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-authored The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns, which became the basis for the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street. Simon’s newest TV series, Treme, debuted this month. Set in New Orleans, three months after Hurricane Katrina hit, the show tells the story of residents, including musicians and chefs, trying to rebuild their lives in the wake of disaster.

Please note: SPJ has notified all contest award winners. Notification emails were sent to the email address used in the contest submission process. If you have any questions, please contact SPJ at minnesota.spj@gmail.com

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2010 PAGE ONE CONTEST — ENTRY CATEGORIES

Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by sarah.bauer.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS ENTRY FORM
[...]

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2009 Page One Winners Announced

Posted on 15. May, 2009 by sarah.bauer.

Please note: You can find a full list of winners at the end of this post.

Faribault Echo Students Win Freedom of Information Award from State’s Largest Journalism Group

Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists presents its Peter S. Popovich Award to high school journalists who started online newspaper to confront principal’s censorship efforts

Professional journalists are only too aware of the constant specter of censorship. But a group of high school students learned this lesson late last year as well when they delved into a story covering sensitive information about a teacher who was under investigation and on administrative leave.

Students from the Faribault Echo persevered when school Superintendent Bob Stepaniak demanded prior review of their story. They refused to give in to his demands, worked with the city’s professional paper, the Faribault Daily News, to publish the story, then started an independent, online version of the Echo when Stepaniak later shut the print version down. For steadfastly adhering to the principles of the Freedom of the Press, these students received the Peter S. Popovich Award, which is given each year by MNSPJ to “the person or organization that exemplifies the fight for First Amendment Rights. [...]

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You’re Invited: 2009 Page One Banquet

Posted on 01. May, 2009 by sarah.bauer.

The Minnesota Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists cordially invites you to the

2009 Page One Awards Banquet
honoring the best in Minnesota journalism from 2008

featuring news legend
TOM BROKAW

Thursday, May 14, 2009
Reception with gratis wine & beer begins at 6 p.m.
Dinner served at 7 p.m.

Profile Event Center
2630 University Ave. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

SPJ Members – $40
Non-members – $50

R.S.V.P. by Friday, May 1, 2009

Please click here to respond with dinner selections and payment

Contact Sarah Bauer with questions:
612-341-9357 or sarah.bauer@news-council.org

We encourage you to share the attached invite (PDF) with your colleagues.
—
Please note, all contest winners will be notified independently of this invite
via phone or email as soon as all contest results have been verified.

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2009 Page One Awards: Contest Update

Posted on 23. Mar, 2009 by sarah.bauer.

Thank you to all of the entrants of the 2009 Page One Awards. This year, we received more than 420 entries this year in Newspaper, Magazine, Television, Radio and Online Categories.

Entries are currently being judged by partner SPJ chapters in comparable markets throughout the U.S. Contest results will be returned to MN SPJ by mid-April when results will be verified and tabulated.

Contest winners will be contacted by mail or email when all results have been returned and verified. Specific “winner” information, including award place (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) will be announced for the first time at the 2009 Page One Awards banquet.

Banquet date and location will be announced soon.

Please check back for updates!

-MN SPJ

If you have any questions, please contact:
Nicole Garrison-Sprenger ngarrisonsprenger@pioneerpress.com, office: 651-228-5580
Sarah Bauer, sarah.bauer@news-council.org, office: 612-341-9357

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