All professional and student journalists, and freelancers, residing in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas can submit entries or have entries submitted on their behalf by news organizations that published or broadcast their work. Authors who reside in the contest states may submit work published or broadcast outside those states.
ALL ENTRIES MUST HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED OR BROADCAST IN CALENDAR YEAR 2022.
You DON’T have to be a member of the Society of Professional Journalists to enter, but members get a discount on entry fees. SPJ members must provide their membership number in order to qualify for the discount. You can join SPJ by submitting an application here. We suggest submitting entries after your SPJ membership has been confirmed.
Entries may be submitted in more than one category, but a separate entry fee is required for each category.
Any significant challenges or corrections to an entry must be noted with the entry. Failure to do so will result in disqualification of the entry.
Non-English entries should also provide an English translation if possible.
Cover letters and supporting material are required only in conjunction with nominations for the following awards: Student Special Project, Student Journalist of the Year, Public Service, Community Journalism, FOI, Outstanding New Journalist and Diamond Journalist of the Year. Entrants in other categories may submit cover letters or supporting material at their discretion but should keep them brief.
Please ensure entry URLs remain valid through June 30, 2023, to accommodate judging and awards presentation.
Contest administrators reserve the right to combine entries in the same category from different platforms or circulation groups if an insufficient number of entries make the category non-competitive.
ENTRY FEES
SPJ members: $10 per entry.
To claim the member fee, you must supply your SPJ member number (in the entry platform’s comments box). A team entry may claim the fee if at least one team member is an SPJ member. That person’s name and SPJ member number must be listed in the comments box.
Nonmembers: $20 per entry.
Student SPJ members: $5 per entry. Provide your member number.
Student nonmembers: $10 per entry.
No fees will be refunded.
HOW TO ENTER
The Diamond Journalism Awards uses the Better BNC contest management platform for entries and judging.
The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will present Public information officers and the press: Advancing the free flow of information, a discussion about the relationships between public information officers and the media at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30.
The event moderated by KATV reporter Brenda Lepenski will take place at the Arkansas Press Association, 411 S. Victory Street in Little Rock, for those who would like to attend in person or online at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89982273967.
Featured speakers include Bill Sadler, PIO for the Arkansas State Police, and communication directors Cindy Murphy of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, Aaron Sadler of the office of Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. and Pamela Smith of the Little Rock School District.
The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are welcome to bring their lunch. Submit questions and comments for discussion to arkansasSPJ@gmail.com or tweet @ArkansasSPJ.
About the moderator:
Arkansas SPJ board member Brenda Lepenski joined the Channel 7 News team in March of 2022 as a general assignment reporter. Prior to working at KATV, Lepenski worked as a multimedia journalist in Lubbock, Texas. She also worked for a Spanish TV station in Irving, Texas where she helped produce newscasts for Dallas, Houston, and Miami.
Lepenski is fluent in Spanish. She grew up in Bossier City, La. and is originally from Juarez, Mexico. Her name is Polish, given to her by her adopted family.
She’s a proud member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and has served as vice president of the Dallas chapter where she’s helped in the effort to raise scholarship funds for aspiring journalism and communication students.
She’s a former student at Louisiana Tech University and a graduate of University of Texas at El Paso.
Lepenski is looking to explore more of the Natural State and to serve the community by telling stories that matter.
About the panelists:
Bill Sadler grew up in a newspaper family in Rison, where his grandfather bought the Cleveland County Herald in 1923. Bill started working at the paper in the backshop, learned to write, photograph, “and all the other demons that come with a weekly newspaper,” he said. His family sold the paper in 2002.
He attended Arkansas State University and worked as a reporter and photographer at the Jonesboro Sun, Malvern Daily Record and Pine Bluff News.
In 1976, Bill Sadler joined the staff of KARK as a reporter/photographer assigned to Pine Bluff; then, in 1996, he went to work as a field producer for NBC News affiliates division. His first assignment covered TWA Flight 800, which exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after takeoff killing all 230 people on board.
He became a PIO in May 1997.
“Ten months into the job I was thrown to the wolves as lead spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, Craighead County Sheriff’s Department, Prosecuting Attorney and Juvenile Judge in the aftermath of the Westside School shooting,” Bill Sadler said.
He is still at the job 25 years later.
Aaron Sadler (no relation to Bill) is a veteran communicator with experience in both public relations and newspaper reporting. He is currently Communications Director for Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., and before that he led communications for five attorneys general in five states.
He is a staunch advocate for the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, having been a correspondent for Stephens Media in both Little Rock and Washington. He has also worked for the Arkansas Press Association and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
A Trumann native, Sadler is a graduate of Arkansas State University.
Cindy Murphy spent more than 11 years at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where she covered city hall for four years and wrote for the family section in the popular “Forces of Nurture” column about the challenges, joys and misadventures of parenting; she was a website editor, then a special projects reporter for more than seven years, during which time she was responsible for writing award-winning, in-depth articles on a number of topics, including the Arkansas Crime Lab, cold cases, various city and state agencies and related legislative initiatives.
She conducted exhaustive investigations into fraud, corruption and public spending. In addition, Murphy specialized in human interest stories that required the ability to relate to victims, their families, and the agencies involved.
After leaving the paper, Murphy served as communications director for Arkansas Attorney General’s Office under Dustin McDaniel, then as public affairs director and community engagement director under Leslie Rutledge. She worked briefly as public outreach division manager for Arkansas Energy and Environment before joining the Arkansas Department of Corrections in May 2020.
Pamela Smith has been the Communications Director for the Little Rock School District, Arkansas’ second-largest district, since April 2012, where she is responsible for guiding internal and external communications, marketing, and public relations efforts. Smith is a 30-year communications veteran who has enjoyed a career that spans public relations, radio/television broadcast, and print.
Smith previously served as co-host of Good Morning Arkansas and Weekend Anchor for KATV. Smith joined KATV’s staff in 1990 as a General Assignment Reporter and was soon promoted to Weekend Anchor, assuming the role of co-host of the station’s popular GMA program in August 2011. Because she has a keen insight into media relations and is passionate about issues that impact the state’s youth and elderly populations, she is equally excited to now work on behalf of the 22,000 plus students in LRSD and brings a breadth of experience to her role as lead communicator. In addition to her lengthy television career, Smith also served as on-air talent and news director for the top-rated Broadway Joe Radio Show in Little Rock for more than a decade and was a monthly contributor to AETN and AY Magazine.
The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to announce the finalists for its 2022 Diamond Journalism Awards, a regional competition that recognizes journalism excellence among professionals and students from Arkansas and six bordering states.
Arkansas SPJ will present the winners at an awards ceremony on June 30 at Diamond Bear Brewing, 600 N Broadway, North Little Rock. A reception starts at 5:30 p.m. with the awards presentations starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 for professionals and $10 for students, including heavy hors d’oeuvres and libations. Purchase tickets by PayPal or cash/check at the door.
This year’s competition for work published or broadcast in 2021 drew 379 entries in more than 80 categories, including Diamond Journalist of the Year and Outstanding New Journalist, the Robert S. McCord FOI Award, the Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder Public Service Award, and the Garrick Feldman Community Journalism Award.
Judges were members of the SPJ chapters in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.
The list of finalists follows, along with the publications or broadcast outlets where their work appeared:
The Arkadelphian, Arkadelphia, Ark.
Joel Phelps
Arkansas Catholic, Little Rock
Dwain Hebda
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock
Lara Farrar, Stephen Simpson, Joseph Flaherty, Thomas Metthe, Stephen Swofford, Maggie McNeary, Carrie Hill, Ginny Monk, Philip Martin, Karen Martin, Byron Tate, Tess Vrbin, Staci Vandagriff, Teresa Moss, Ashton Eley, Celia Storey, Tom Murphy, Nathan Owen, John Magsam, Noel Oman, Jaime Adame, Frank Lockwood, Nick Popovich. Jen Para
Arkansas Money & Politics, Little Rock
Mark Carter, Kelley Bass, Katie Zakrzewski
Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, Little Rock
Rebekah Scott, Benjamin Hardy, Debra Hale-Shelton
The Associated Press, Little Rock
Andrew DeMillo, Adrian Sainz, Jill Bleed
AY Magazine, Little Rock
Dustin Jayroe, Jamison Mosley, Lora Puls, Ian Lyle, Dwain Hebda, Heather Baker, Mike Bedgood, Emily Beirne
Baxter Regional Pulse, Mountain Home, Ark.
Sarah Knight, Jason Masters, Ashlee Nobel, Dwain Hebda
The Daily Citizen, Searcy, Ark.
Greg Geary
Fort Worth Weekly, Texas
Edward Brown
FOX16 News, KLRT-TV, Little Rock
Kevin Kelly, Stephen Goodale, Jessica Guy
KOLR-TV, Springfield, Mo.
Brian Calfano, Sarah Scarlett
KNWA-TV, Fayetteville, Ark.
Chad Mira, Chelsea Helms, Brad Horn, Jacob Cotner
KPEJ-TV, Midland-Odessa, Texas
Monica Quintero
KTHV-11, Little Rock
Amanda Jaeger, Skot Covert, Kelly Tibbit, Zach Keast
KUAR-FM, Little Rock
Michael Hibblen, Daniel Breen, Sarah Kellogg, Alexandria Brown
The Leader Newspaper, Jacksonville, Ark.
Rick Kron
Mississippi Free Press, Jackson
Ashton Pittman, Christian Middleton, Donna Ladd, Aliyah Veal, Torsheta Jackson, Nick Judin, Kayode Crown, Grace Marion, Stacey Cato, Leo Carney, Roger Amos, DeAnna Tisdale Johnson, Azia Wiggins, Kimberly Griffin
MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, Memphis, Tenn.
Jacob Steimer
Richmond News, Missouri
Jack “Miles” Ventimiglia
Riverfront Times, St. Louis
Danny Wicentowski
St. Louis Public Radio
Jason Rosenbaum, Shahla Farzan, Chad Davis, Marissanne Lewis-Thompson, Andrea Henterson, Jonathan Ahl, Brian Munoz, Jeremy Goodwin, Sarah Fentem
World Christian Broadcasting, Franklin, Tenn.
Paul Ladd
WVLT-TV, Knoxville, Tenn.
Ashley Bohle, Casey Wheeless, Harry Sullivan
STUDENT MEDIA
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Reveille/LSUReveille.com
Nick Ombrellaro, Gabby Jimenez, Piper Hutchinson, Maddie Scott, Domenic Purdy, Peter Rauterkus, Claire Sullivan, Charlie Stephens
Tiger TV
Ally Kadlubar, Aria Pons, Erin Rogers, Maria Pham, Kendall Duncan, Haylee Kennedy, Brooke Smith
Manship News Service
Rachel Mipro, Liz Ryan, Lara Nicholson, Kathleen Peppo, Brittney Forbes, Margaret Delaney, Olivia Varden, Chris Langley, Masie O’Toole, Kirby Koch, Donald Fountain
All professional journalists, including freelancers, and student journalists who reside in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas can submit entries or have entries submitted on their behalf by news organizations that published or broadcast their work. Authors who live in the contest region may also submit work published or broadcast outside those states.
You DON’T have to be a member of the Society of Professional Journalists to enter, but members get a discount on entry fees. SPJ members must provide their membership number to qualify for the discount. You can join SPJ here.
ELIGIBLE WORK MUST HAVE BEEN PUBLISHEDOR BROADCAST BETWEEN JAN. 1 AND DEC. 31, 2021.
Entries may be submitted in more than one category, but a separate entry fee is required for each category.
Non-English entries should also provide an English translation if possible.
Any significant challenges or corrections to an entry must be provided with the entry. If not noted, an entry will be disqualified.
Cover letters and supporting material are required only with nominations for the Student Special Project Award, Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder Public Service Award, Garrick Feldman Community Journalism Award, Robert S. McCord FOI Award, Outstanding New Journalist Award and Diamond Journalist of the Year Award. Entrants in other categories may submit cover letters or supporting material at their discretion but should keep them brief.
Please ensure entry URLs remain valid through June 30, 2022, to accommodate judging and awards presentation.
Contest administrators reserve the right to combine entries in the same category from different platforms or circulation groups to make a category more competitive.
ENTRY FEES
SPJ members: $10 per entry.
To claim the member fee, you must supply your SPJ member number (in the entry platform’s comments box). A team entry may claim the fee if at least one team member is an SPJ member. That person’s name and SPJ member number must be listed in the comments box.
Nonmembers: $20 per entry.
Student SPJ members: $5 per entry. Provide your member number.
Student nonmembers: $10 per entry.
No fees will be refunded.
HOW TO ENTER
The Diamond Journalism Awards uses the Better BNC contest management platform for entries and judging.
If you are new to the BNC platform, you can find instructions on how to enter on this page.
Join the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for a Halloween costume party, even if the scariest thing you can come up with is dressing like a reporter at the end of a long day, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, on the patio at the reportedly haunted Four Quarter Bar. Share stories covering spooky places or paranormal activities or sit back and enjoy a brew with friends.
Winners of the 2021 Diamond Journalism Awards will be announced in an online ceremony beginning at 6 p.m. June 18. Watch this space and social media for more details as the day gets closer.
Sponsored by the Arkansas Pro Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, the Diamond Journalism Awards is a regional competition that recognizes outstanding journalism by professionals and students from Arkansas and bordering states.
Winners in more than 75 categories as well as the Diamond Journalist of the Year, the Outstanding New Journalist, and the Robert S. McCord FOI Award will be announced at the upcoming a virtual awards ceremony. Winners of the Public Service Award, Journalist of the Year, Outstanding New Journalist, and the Robert S. McCord FOI Award receive an acrylic diamond-shaped paperweight.
This year’s contest honors work published or broadcast in 2020, drew a record 393 entries and was judged by members of the Cincinnati Pro Chapter of SPJ.
Here are the finalists listed by the publication or other outlet where their entries appeared:
ABOUT the River Valley Magazine, Russellville, Ark.
Johnny Carrol Sain, Hannah Butler, Kenzie Sain
Arkansas Catholic, Little Rock
Dwain Hebda
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock
Stephen Simpson, Williams Sanders, Jeannie Roberts, Joseph Flaherty, Thomas Metthe, Stephen Swofford, Staton Breidenthal, Yutao Chen, Maggie McNeary, Carrie Hill, Justin Cunningham, Stan Denman, Brian Smith, Joe Luciano, Tony Holt, Ginny Monk, Kat Stromquist, Bill Bowden, Terry Austin, David Barham, Walter Hussman, Philip Martin, Morgan Acuff, Sarah DeClerk, Dwain Hebda, Democrat-Gazette staff
ADG River Valley and Ozark Edition, Little Rock
Tammy Keith
Arkansas Money & Politics, Little Rock
Tyler Hale, Mark Carter, Evin Demirel, Rebecca Robertson
Mollie Bryant, Nathan Poppe, Miguel Rios, George Lang, Nazarene Harris, Jacquelyn Walsh, Sydni Nasada, Ryan Magnani, Joshua Boydston, Jayna Hadwiger, Ben Felder, Kassie McClung, Nate Ward, Katrina Ward
The Daily Citizen, Searcy, AR
Greg Geary
The Daily Record, Little Rock
Dwain Hebda
Do South Magazine
Dwain Hebda
FOX16 News, Little Rock
Kevin Kelly
Houston Business Journal, Texas
Jeff Jeffrey, Chris Mathews, Margaret Barrientos, Sara Samora, Laura Gillespie, Shafaq Patel, Giselle Greenwood
Jackson Free Press, Mississippi
Nick Judin, Kayode Crown, Donna Ladd
KATC-TV, Lafayette, La.
Andrew Clay, Staff
KOLR-TV, Springfield, Mo.
Brian Calfano, Lissa Hamblen
KPEJ-TV, Midland-Odessa, Texas
Monica Quintero
KUAR-FM
Anna Stitt, Daniel Breen, Sarah Kellogg, Alexandria Brown
KWTX-TV, Waco
Rosemond Crown, Gordon Collier, Clint Webb, Megan Vanselow, Drake Lawson, Bill Gowdy
KXAN-TV, Austin, Texas
Alex Caprariello
Leader Newspaper, Jacksonville, Ark.
Rick Kron
Louisiana College, Pineville
Elizabeth Christian
Mississippi Free Press, Jackson
Ashton Pittman, William Pittman, Christian Middleton, Donna Ladd, Aliyah Veal, Mauricio J. Quijano
Politico, Arlington, Va.
Bret Schulte
Richmond News, Missouri
Jack “Miles” Ventimiglia
Riverfront Times, St. Louis
Danny Wicentowski
Texas Observer, Austin
Amal Ahmed, Chris O’Connell, Savannah Maher
The Trucker, Little Rock
Wendy Miller, Linda Garner-Bunch, Lyndon Finney, Sam Pierce, The Trucker Editorial Staff
WVLT-TV, Knoxville
Ashley Bohle, Brittany Tarwater, Keith Smith, WVLT Staff
STUDENT MEDIA
Louisiana State University (Reveille, LSU Tiger TV, LSU Manship News Service, KLSU-FM) Baton Rouge
Katherine Manuel, Anna Jones, Bailey Williams, Alyssa Berry, Matthew Clark, Sydney McGovern, Karli Carpenter, Kendall Duncan, Ally Kadlubar, Caleb Greene, Bailey Chauvin, Reed Darcey, Jared Brodtmann, Luke Chevalier, Marie Plunkett, Evan Leonhard, Cecile Girard, Sofia McKentry
Louisiana College, Wildcats Media, Pineville
Alena Noakes, Joel Thompson, Aaron Quartemont
Arkansas State University, Delta Digital News Service, Jonesboro
Learn about those who have provided fact-checking of presidential debates and other news events during the Just the Facts webinar, hosted by the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The panel will provide information about the ins and outs of fact-checking, as well as its importance to audiences.
Speaker: Debra Utacia Krol of the Arizona Republic Debra Utacia Krol, an Indigenous affairs reporter at the Arizona Republic, was part of a team of experts that fact-checked a Trump-Biden presidential debate on behalf of USA TODAY. She is an award-winning journalist who specializes in Indigenous, environmental and science topics.
Put your skills to the test with pub-style trivia about sports reporting, hosted by the Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists. Bring your favorite beverage beverage and your game face to the virtual event, in which randomly selected teams will compete to see who has the most knowledge of sports journalism facts, fumbles and legends. What a fun and informative way to kick off the fall season!
