Journalists from the DMV filled the ballroom of the National Press Club Tuesday, June 9 to salute four of their extraordinary colleagues, chosen by the Society of Professional Journalists DC Pro Chapter to be inducted into the SPJDC Hall of Fame and to receive its Distinguished Service Award.
Hall of Fame honorees AP national science writer Seth Borenstein, Kevin Naff, co-owner and editor of the Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ news publication in the country, and NPR investigative correspondent Cheryl W. Thompson and Distinguished Service Award winner Karen Atttiah brought light and dark into their comments during what chapter president Celia Wexler called one of journalism’s most challenging years, marked by job cuts, the defunding of public broadcasting, and daily
attacks on reporters from the White House. “And yet we are still here,” she observed, getting a round of applause from the crowd.
Borenstein thanked former SPJ chapter president Randy Showstack for suggesting a science writer for this honor, which typically goes to people who cover the political side of D.C., and expressed his joy in doing the work. “Journalism and especially Washington journalism is a playground for the curious, the inquisitive, and yes, the righteous… Every day I get to explore, learn and explain.” As a college student, he said, he met Art Buchwald, “one of my early journalism heroes … and now I get to join Art Buchwald in this hall of fame.”
Kevin Naff expressed gratitude to his family, friends and his business partners and team at the Blade, and “most importantly, all the people in queer DC who have trusted us to tell their stories over nearly 60 years. There wouldn’t be a Blade without brave Washingtonians willing to live authentic lives.” Thompson joked that it wasn’t possible that she was old enough to have met the Hall of Fame requirements of working as a journalist in the DMV for at least 25 years. When she asked her
spouse if she was old, he replied that she was “vintage.”
She expressed her determination to remain an investigative journalist until she died.
The Distinguished Service Award recognizes one individual who, through their writing, actions, or both, has had an impact on the craft and the community at large.
Karen Attiah, the Washington Post’s founding Global Opinions editor, reminded her audience of this year’s challenges as they affected her personally, referring to her dismissal from the Post after her social media comments on political violence and guns following the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, a dismissal she is challenging.
She praised the Post Guild for standing by her, and her mentor, the late Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt. Still very much a journalist, her forthcoming book is Say Your Word, Then Leave, about the life and assassination of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, whom she worked
with closely during the last year of his life.
MC for the dinner was Kojo Nnamdi, host of WAMU’s “Politics Hour.” The dinner saluted the more than 200 Dateline Award finalists and winners and announced the chapter’s SDX Foundation of Washington’s six scholarship winners. New chapter president Georgena Mierow delivered the closing remarks.
You can find a separate story on the SDX scholarship winners on this site. A story listing Dateline competition winners will be posted soon.