Get ready to celebrate the best of Washington, D.C., journalism and the induction of new members into the Washington Journalism Hall of Fame.
The annual SPJ DC Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame dinner will be at the National Press Club June 11, starting with cash bar reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m., during which the festivities unfold.
Tickets are on sale here.
Our Hall of Fame inductees are three veteran Washington journalists. Our Distinguished Service Award honoree also has years of journalism and journalism education experience.
Hall of Fame inductees are:
JOIE CHEN
Northwestern University
Director of Medill Programs, Washington, D.C.
Joie Chen, former reporter and anchor for CBS News, CNN and Al Jazeera America, is now director of Northwestern University’s Medill programs in Washington, D.C.
Since 2016, Chen has been a consultant and host for CNN’s branded content production studio. From 2013 to 2016 she was an anchor and correspondent for Al Jazeera America’s flagship current affairs program, America. She was a Washington-based correspondent for the CBS Evening News and CBS Sunday Morning from 2002 to 2008, serving as a correspondent at the White House, Capitol Hill and the Pentagon. Chen was awarded a national Emmy as a lead correspondent covering the D.C. sniper attacks and awarded a national Emmy as anchor and lead correspondent of the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing.
to be introduced by Clarence Page, Washington-based syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune
JOHN KELLY
Retired Columnist
Washington Post
John Kelly, the former Washington Post columnist known for his look at Washington’s less-famous side, started at The Post in 1989. In his nearly 20 years as author of “John Kelly’s Washington” he estimates he wrote rough 4,600 columns, some of them about squirrels. Born in Washington, Kelly’s first job at the Post was deputy editor in the Weekend section. He later edited Weekend, founded KidsPost, and was a general assignment reporter in the Metro section. There, he says, he wrote “mainly feature stories about such things as weather, bomb-sniffing dogs, Girl Scout cookies and adulterous lawyers.” Harvard and Oxford awarded him journalism fellowships. A rock-and-roll drummer, Kelly is two-time winner of “Journopalooza” Battle of the Bands.
to be introduced by Mark Segraves, general assignment reporter at News4 Washington
MICHEL MARTIN
Host
NPR
Michel Martin, currently a host of NPR’s Morning Edition, previously was the weekend host of All Things Considered and host of the Consider This Saturday podcast. She also has hosted “Michel Martin: Going There,” a live event series in collaboration with member stations. Martin came to NPR in 2006 and launched “Tell Me More,” a one-hour daily NPR news and talk show that aired from 2007-2014. Martin joined NPR from ABC News, where she began work in 1992. She served as correspondent for Nightline from 1996 to 2006. Before joining ABC, Martin covered state and local politics for the Washington Post and national politics and policy at The Wall Street Journal, where she was White House correspondent.
to be introduced by Steve Taylor, her old friend and former colleague
Distinguished Service to Journalism Award
Being recognized for Distinguished Service to Journalism is Jesse J. Holland, journalist, author and journalism educator at George Washington University
Jesse J. Holland, associate director at The School of Media & Public Affairs at George Washington University, is author of four books and editor and author of the award-winning short story anthology “Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda.” Holland serves as a guest host on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and was co-host of BBC World Service Radio’s A Home For Black History. He is a former Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Residence at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress and a former Race & Ethnicity Reporter at the Associated Press in Washington, where he also served as a White House, Supreme Court and Congressional reporter. Holland was awarded a doctorate of humane letters from LeMoyne Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee.
Expect an exciting evening celebrating the best of the profession and reliving key moments in its recent history through the remarks delivered by each honoree and applauding the work done in 2023 for which the Dateline Awards for excellence are given — along with making new memories for all honorees and attendees.
Dateline Awards contest entrants are learning about their finalist status now, and all winners will be unveiled the night of the dinner.
For those who know they are attending, knowing the event will be memorable whoever is honored, tickets are on sale here.