SPJ NORCAL JAMES MADISON AWARDS PODCAST CELEBRATES JOURNALIST DAVID WEIR AND FIRST AMENDMENT CHAMPIONS
The Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is thrilled to release an audio tribute to its 35th Annual James Madison Award winners.
Each year, the Freedom of Information Committee of SPJ NorCal honors our region’s journalists, attorneys, educators, public officials, whistleblowers and activists who have made extraordinary contributions to freedom of information and transparency.
Narrated by our committee member and San Francisco Public Press “Civic” host Laura Wenus, the awards podcast features an array of our 2020 winners and an in-depth interview of Bay Area investigative journalist David Weir, who won the Norwin S. Yoffie Career Achievement award for his remarkable contributions to transparency — from his early days as a rollicking contributor to Rolling Stone, to his co-founding of the Center of Investigative Reporting, to his many works of muckraking and his mentoring of the next generation of journalists.
COVID-19 forced us to cancel our annual San Francisco awards dinner last spring. The committee instead fanned out to virtually interview award winners to put together an audio celebration. Joining us were honorees:
-California Assemblyman Phil Ting
-Journalists Robert Lewis and Jason Paladino
-Journalists Peter Byrne and Will Carruthers
-Attorneys Tenaya Rodewald and James Chadwick
-Attorneys Duffy Carolan and Tom Burke
-First Amendment Coalition Executive Director David Snyder
-(Then-) Student Journalists Katey Rusch and Laurence Du Sault
-Student Journalist Freddy Brewster
-Educator Kathi Duffel
-McClatchy West Region Investigative Editor Robert Salladay
-Citizen Geoff King, Founder of Open Vallejo
-Co-Founder of YR Media Ellin O’Leary
Today also marks the opening of the 2021 James Madison Awards nomination season. Submissions for work from the 2020 calendar year are due by January 8, 2021.
Contact spjnorcalfoi@gmail.com for more information.
