Center for Public Interest Journalism establishes Larry Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism
Earlier this week, the Center for Public Interest Journalism at Temple University announced the establishment of the Larry Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism. From the release:
The Larry Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism, open to journalism of any medium (print, broadcast or online) produced in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, South Jersey or Delaware, will include one top prize of $10,000 and two “special recognition” prizes of $2,500.
“In a democracy, agreement is not essential; participation is. Good journalism raises issues and cries out for participation,” says Weiss, an entrepreneur focusing his efforts in the graphic arts. “I am hopeful that this award will recognize the important work of the investigative journalist.”
Deadline for entries is February 15, 2012. The awards will be presented at a televised luncheon at WHYY studios in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 19, 2012. Full press release is posted here, and entry guidelines here.
Philadelphia Enterprise Reporting Awards: ‘A Home Run’
J-Lab released a report today on the enterprise journalism awards program which the organization sponsored in 2010 (awards announcement here) through a grant from the William Penn Foundation. The report provides great background and analysis on the 14 public interest news projects created through the awards which covered important issues throughout the region while supporting successful partnerships among news organizations.
From the release:
Fourteen media partnerships awarded $5,000 apiece to produce an in-depth journalism project generated more than 300 stories, blog posts, videos, podcasts, searchable databases and interactive maps. The $70,000 awarded leveraged $96,000 in additional funding. The impact exceeded expectations. One project tracked a schools-turnaround initiative and reported irregularities that led to the resignation of the city school superintendent. A major investigative project documented how one in every five properties in the city was tax delinquent, owing $472 million in back taxes.
The awards program was “a home run,” said J-Lab’s Jan Schaffer. It offers a “replicable model for jumpstarting reporting that journalists know needs to be done.”
“Outstanding” results, said Jeremy Nowak, president of the William Penn Foundation, which funded the project. “Most of all we learned that a new generation of public-interest journalism is being hatched in new venues.”
Read a report overview or download the full report here.
Engaging Communities conference follow-up
Jared Brey, Program Coordinator for the Center for Public Interest Journalism, recently posted a survey for attendees of Engaging Communities. If you attended and have feedback, particularly on the program and future scheduling of events, please take a minute and complete the short 5-question survey. And for those of you who were unable to attend, Jared posted a brief summary of the conference panel discussions and the twitter backchannel. You can follow Jared and the Center on twitter for info on upcoming events.
Reminder: Engaging Communities conference this Saturday, November 12
Just a quick reminder that the Center for Public Interest Journalism at Temple University is hosting Engaging Communities this Saturday, November 12 from 9am to 4:45pm. There are currently 27 registration slots remaining, so if you’re interested in attending, please register here: http://cpijcommunities.eventbrite.com/. Should be an interesting discussion with local and national media makers and a great group of attendees. Program below. Hope to see you there.
9 a.m. - Coffee, Breakfast, and Registration
10 a.m. – Keynote – “The New Media Ecology: Meeting Citizens Where They Live”
Lew Friedland, University of Wisconsin – Madison
11:15 a.m. – Building Audiences
Mike Lyons, West Philly Local
Jim Smiley, Frankford Gazette
Karen Araiza, NBC Philly
Chris Harper, Philadelphia Neighborhoods
12:30 p.m. – Lunch (provided by CPIJ)
2 p.m. – Citizen-produced Media
Rebbeca Abboud & Kate Harner, MiND TV
Rebekah Philips, Media Mobilizing Project
Hannah Sassaman, New America Foundation
Mike Kuetemeyer, Termite TV
3:15 p.m. Facilitating Citizen Engagement
Heshimu Jaramogi, WURD 900 AM
Doron Taussig, Daily News People’s Editorial Board (It’s Our Money)
Jessica Clark, Association of Independents in Radio
Don Henry, WHYY/NewsWorks
4:45 p.m. – Happy Hour
CPIJ hosts Engaging Communities conference – Saturday, November 12, 2011
Temple’s Center for Public Interest Journalism (CPIJ) and Department of Journalism are hosting a conference on Engaging Communities at Temple University on Saturday, November 12. CPIJ is bringing together a number of local media organizations to talk about news, news communities, and how to bring the two closer together. Lew Friedland, professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin – Madison will deliver a keynote talk entitled “The New Media Ecology: Meeting Citizens Where They Live.” The conference will have three panels: Building Audiences, Citizen-Produced Media, and Facilitating Civic Engagement. Details on panels and panelist can be seen here. The conference is free and includes a light breakfast, lunch and a networking reception at the end of the day. To register, visit our event page at http://cpijcommunities.eventbrite.com/. Please help us spread the word about this event to your friends and colleagues interested in public interest news and information over the coming weeks. If you have any questions, you can contact me (michael <dot> greenle <at> gmail <dot> com) or our program coordinator, Jared Brey, at jaredbrey <at> gmail <dot> com. We hope to see you there.
Center staffing addition; Mobile workshop Wednesday, October 12, 6pm
While the PPIIN CEO search continues, the Center for Public Interest Journalism has added a program coordinator, Jared Brey. Jared graduated from Temple with a master’s degree in journalism in May. He covers zoning reform for Planphilly.com, and teaches a business communication course in the Fox school. He also received his bachelor’s degree from Temple, majoring in English. Jared will manage the Center’s online communications and assist Center Director Tom Jacobson and Associate Director Andy Mendelson in organizing events, including a mobile workshop next week. Information on this event is below:
Mobile Strategies for Journalism
Wednesday, Oct. 12, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Mitten Hall, Room 250
The Center for Public Interest Journalism and the School of Communications and Theater’s Department of Journalism present Amy Gahran, JOUR ’90, media consultant and principal of House of Local.
Gahran is a journalist, consultant and entrepreneur who explores how media is changing — and how communities, organizations and media outlets can thrive in this change. Her current main focus is mobile media, because everyone has a cell phone and they’re using them in lots of interesting ways — even not-so-smartphones. She’s a co-founder of OaklandLocal.com, a community news/view site serving Oakland, Calif. (where she currently lives). Gahran also covers mobile technology for CNN.com, and offers guidance to journalists, newsrooms and news entrepreneurs through the Knight Digital Media Center at USC. She’s always on Twitter at @agahran, and her blog is Contentious.com.
This event is free and open to the public. Light food and drink will be served.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you there.
PPIIN CEO Search Brief Update
Another quick post to provide an update on the PPIIN CEO search, which I hope provides some transparency to the hiring process (which typically requires a high level of confidentiality for applicants). The leadership of the Center for Public Interest Journalism (the PPIIN project’s host organization) continues to be encouraged by the high level of interest from top-tier candidates in the public interest news and information field. The PPIIN search committee has interviewed candidates over this summer, with 12 being involved in either first or second round interviews from a national pool of prospective candidates of over 85. While we are actively engaged with existing candidates, the search firm, Opus Partners, continues to surface interesting, qualified prospects, which is not uncommon in a wide-ranging search. Because of this, the search is expected to continue into the autumn. I will plan to continue to provide updates here as the search proceeds, and please feel free to post/email questions. Thanks as always for your interest in the project.
ONA sponsorship application closed
Thanks to all applicants for requests for sponsorships from the Center for Public Interest Journalism to this year’s ONA conference in Boston, MA. The sponsorship program has filled and all applicants will be informed of the status of their application by Monday, August 22. The Center is excited to have a strong contingent of Philadelphia-based public interest news and information gatherers attending the conference and looks forward to seeing attendees in Boston, MA on September 22, 2011. For questions or additional information, please write michael <dot> greenle <at> gmail <dot> com.
CPIJ sponsorship program for Online News Association conference
UPDATED - This application is now closed. Original post:
The Center for Public Interest Journalism at Temple University is pleased to provide the opportunity for up to 18 members of the local public interest news and information community to attend the Online News Association conference in Boston, MA from September 22 – 24. CPIJ will provide funding to cover conference registration, hotel, travel and a per diem for food for participants.
We’re excited about this opportunity because the conference has been helpful to past participants in gathering best practice information, learning about innovation in the field, and establishing connections with journalists and news gatherers from around the country working on similar issues.
- Be a professional journalist or use professional journalism standards in news gathering
- Focus on public interest news and information gathering in the Greater Philadelphia area
- Be an active participant in the Philadelphia public interest news community
- Be able to attend the entire conference
Because of limited space, only one applicant per organization will be able to receive an award. Preference in selection will be given to participants in the Networked Journalism Collaborative process, which helped generate the concept for the Center for Public Interest Journalism and its project, the Philadelphia Public Interest Information Network, but all are encouraged to apply.
- Name
- News Organization (if applicable)
- URL/handle (if applicable)
- Contact info (email/phone/address)
- Link to relevant work samples (please do not send attachments)
The application process is open now, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so those interested are encouraged to apply immediately. Applicants will be informed of their application’s status by August 19, 2011, and we will post here when all sponsorships have been awarded.
This program is funded by the Center for Public Interest Journalism as part of its mission to support professional development in the region’s public interest news and information community.
Brief Update: PPIIN CEO search continues
A quick post to provide an update on the PPIIN CEO search process. I realize that updates from this blog are infrequent, mostly because the work of the group developing PPIIN is focused on the CEO search, which is inherently an internalized process. Because of our interest in transparency and keeping the public interest news and information community engaged, I am writing to share that the PPIIN search committee is continuing to interview candidates over the next few weeks, likely completing its initial interviews in early July. The committee expects to bring potential finalists back for additional interviews in late July. As is standard in hiring processes, candidate identity and committee interview content are kept confidential, but the leadership of the Center for Public Interest Journalism (the PPIIN project’s host organization), is encouraged that Opus Partners, the firm leading the search process, has received interest from promising candidates both locally and nationally. I will plan to keep you updated as the search proceeds, and please feel free to post/email questions. Thanks as always for your interest in the project.
