SPJ Cleveland's Distinguished Service & Lifetime Achievement Awards

Each year, the Cleveland Chapter honors one or more journalists with the Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest honor the Chapter can bestow for service. Journalists are nominated by the Board, and then chosen by a vote of SPJ members. In exceptional cases, the Board may choose a journalist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award - the highest honor SPJ Cleveland can bestow upon a professional to recognize a career of accomplishments.

Past award winners are:

2007 – Lifetime Achievement Award to Doug Clifton
2006 – No DSAs Made
2005 – No DSAs Made
2004 – No DSAs Made
2003 – Elizabeth Sullivan, Paul Tepley, John Cole*
2002 – Roldo Bartimole, Dan Coughlin
2001 – John Bowen, Peter Miller
2000 – Ted Henry, Jerry Masek
1999 – Dick Zunt, Neil Zurcher
1998 – Mary Strassmeyer*
1997 – Joe Mosbrook, Paul Young, Sal Marino*
1996 -- Bob Tayek, Russ Schneider
1995 -- Doris O'Donnell, Darrell Holland, Don Robertson*
1994 -- Marc Gleisser, Nev Chandler
1993 -- Del Donahoo, Lou Mio
1992 -- Hugh Danaceau, Ron Kuntz
1991 -- Leon Bibb, William F. Miller, Mike Roberts, Thomas Vail*
1990 -- Betty Cope, Dick Feagler, Chuck Heaton
1989 -- Norman Mlachak, Dick Murway, William O. Walker
1987-88 -- Virgil Dominic, Dick Goddard, Jane Scott
1986 -- Peter Bellamy, Bill Barrett, Marge Alge
1985 -- Russell Faist, Harry Volk, Dave Talbott
1984 -- Theodore Andrica, Dick Peters, Fred Griffith
1983 -- Ray Osrin, Don Peters, Neal Van Ellis
1982 -- Doug Adair, Tom Boardman, Charlie Day
1981 -- Bob August, Hal Lebovitz
1980 -- George Condon, Dick McLaughlin
1979 -- John Huth, Dorothy Fuldheim
1978 -- Lewis Edwards, Julian Krawcheck
1977 -- David Rimmel, Marie Daerr Boehringer
1976 -- Milt Widder, Howard Preston
1975 -- Edward Kuekes, Bob Seltzer
1974 -- Fred Bottomer, Dudley Brumbach
1973 -- James Doyle, Philip Porter
1972 -- David Dietz, Richard Maher
• Received a Lifetime Achievement Award

SPJ Cleveland's Philip W. Porter Scholarship & Fund

Each May, the Cleveland Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awards a $4,000 scholarship ($1,000 a year x 4 years) to a talented high school journalist from the Greater Cleveland area. The student must be planning to enter the field of journalism or communications after college graduation. The scholarship is named for Philip W. Porter, a long-time Plain Dealer editor who was one of the co-founders of the Cleveland Chapter. The luncheon event where the scholarship is awarded is named after former Plain Dealer reporter Donald Sabath, who coordinated the fund for many years.

To apply for SPJ's 2008 Porter Scholarship, click here for the packet
Applications were mailed to all area high school guidance counselors and journalism advisors for whom we have records as of January 31st. If you or your school did not receive an application, contact the SPJ Cleveland's Porter Scholarship chairman:

Jae-won Lee, Ph.D.
Director of Journalism/PR/Advertising
School of Communication
Cleveland State University
2121 Euclid Avenue, MU-278
Cleveland, OH 44115
216-687-4632
j.lee@csuohio.edu

If you’d like to make a tax-deductible contribution to our scholarship fund…

Please contact Tony Kozlowski
440-871-2776
aakozlow@aol.com

Thank you for your support of local, deserving journalism students!

  

Past Scholarship Winners

1964...  Jeffrey Chokel: Shaker Heights High School, Princeton '68, Harvard Business School '70; President, Pin Stripe Investments (venture capitalists)
1965...  Lloyd Siegel: Cleveland Heights High School; Ohio State '69; began news career at WKYC; NBC News, NY.
1966...  David Elsner: Brush High School; Oberlin '70; Sections Editor, Chicago Tribune.
1967...  Michael MarinoI: Rocky River High School, Princeton '71; President, Wyse Advertising.
1968...  DAVID LOUIE: Lakewood High School; Northwestern '72; business/consumer editor, KGO-TV, San Francisco.
1969...  Raphael Schlesinger: Berea High School; Bucknell 73; freelance writer.
1970...  Paul Bednarski: Garfield Heights High School; Ohio University '74; entertainment editor, Chicago Sun-Times.
1971...  Steven Osterhout: Berea High School; Miami '75; Miami MMA'76; complaint supervisor; Amtrak, Washington DC.
1972...  Kay Ann (Morrow) Rolland: Rocky River High School; Northwestern MSJ'76; publisher, Where magazine, Paris.
1973...  Mark O'Donnell: West High School; Harvard '76; playwright/ freelance writer, NYC.
1974...  Joseph J. Kay: Cathedral Latin High School; Ohio University '77; UPI; AP in Cincinnati, covered Reds training camp.
1975...  Barbranda Lumpkins: Glenville High School; Ohio Wesleyan '79; travel editor, Life Section, USA Today, Washington.
1976...  Marcia (Meermans) Aghajanian: Lakewood High School; Syracuse '79; managing editor with University Hospitals Case Medical Center.
1977...  Michael Pesarchick: Brooklyn High School; Kent State '81; copy editor, Orlando Sentinel.
1978...  Eve Sarris: Berea High School; Hiram College '82; assistant sports editor, Newsday.
1979...  Helen Karakoudas: John Marshall High School; Northwestem '83; former copy editor, Charlotte Observer, runs a business with her husband in Dallas, TX.
1980...  Diedre Depke: Lakewood High School; Syracuse '83; senior editor, Newsweek MSNBC.com, New York.
1981...  Robert Bundy: Lakewood High School; MA Ohio University.
1982...  Laurie Abraham: Mentor High School; Northwestern U; Plain Dealer intern '85; reporter, Chicago Sun-Times '86; MA'87 Northwestern; book author on Chicago's poor.
1983...  Kathryn Kudravi: Brooklyn High School; cum laude '87 Kent State; assistant sports editor, The Plain Dealer.
1984...  Recipient left school.
1985...  Dennis Manoloff: Bay Village High School; Northwestern '87; sports writer, The Plain Dealer.
1986...  Elizabeth Mercer: Shaker Heights High School; Amherst College '90 summa cum laude, researcher, Economic Planning System, Berkeley, CA.
1986 - MICHAEL GALLAGHER: Valley Forge HS; Vanderbilt '90; MBA at Indiana. U.
1987 - JUNE WEILER: Beachwood HS; Ohio U '91; account executive, Watt Roop & Co.
1988 - NAOMI ANNANDALE: Lakewood HS; Kent State'92; copy editor, LA Daily News.
1988 - MELISSA KOSSLER: Eastlake North HS; Ohio U. '92; interned in Taiwan.
1989 - JENEAN ATWOOD: Maple Hts HS; Bowling Green '93; dean's list, reporter on The Obsidian, minority newspaper, teaching 8mm production, MFA at Ohio U.
1990 - STEPHANIE (BODO) STORM: John Marshall HS; Kent State '94, Communications/ journalism major. Covers minor league baseball for the Fresno, CA Bee.
1991 - HEATHER BRUCE: Chagrin Falls HS; American University '95; Communications for a Smithsonian Institution museum of inventions.
1992 - LORI ANN LESSNER: Eastlake North HS; Northwestern University '96.
1993 - JESSICA BLYTHE LEARY. Chagrin Falls HS; Ohio University (Scripps) '97. Public relations/writing for Multiple Sclerosis Society in Chicago.
1994 - PIA W. SMITH: Cuyahoga Hts. HS; Syracuse University '98; B.S. in journalism.
1995 - MATTHEW A. WALCOFF: Orange HS; University of Maryland, '98. Business reporter, Tribune Chronicle , Warren.
1996 - CORINNE HENAHAN: Lakewood HS; Kent State '00.
1997 - RACHEL DISSELL: Lakewood HS; Kent State. Summer internship on a newspaper in Nigeria. Executive Editor of Daily Kent Stater.
1998 - GAYLE HORWITZ: Beachwood HS; George Washington University (Honors College). Features editor for The Hatchet.
1999 - ANDREW NETZEL: Mentor HS; Kent State. Editor, Daily Kent Stater, fall 2001.
2000 - LEANA DONOFRIO: Lakewood HS; Kent State. Political affairs reporter, covering student government for Daily Kent Stater.
2001 – MATTHEW HUTTON: St. Edward High; Ohio University. Covers the state beat for The Post, student newspaper. He had part of a story picked up by Associated Press.
2002 -- RAMI DAUD: Lakewood High; Kent State University.
2003 – REBECCA TRELA, Kirtland High, Lakeland Community College, Ohio University.
2004 – BENJAMIN SYKES, Beachwood High School, Williams College.
2005 — Justin Armburger, Amherst Steele High School, Kent State University.
2006...  Amber Lewandowski: Amherst Steele High School, Otterbein College.
2007...  Sarah A. Miller: Rocky River High School, Ohio State University.