FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7/29/14

Contacts: Chad Hosier, SPJ Awards Coordinator, (317) 920-4791, chosier@spj.org
Taylor Carlier, SPJ Communications Coordinator, (317) 920-4785, tcarlier@spj.org

INDIANAPOLIS — Mark Pitsch and J. Alex Tarquinio have received the Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for their outstanding contributions to their SPJ chapters and regions.

Each year, the Howard Dubin Award is awarded to no more than two members — one from a chapter of 75 or more members and one from less than 75 members. The award is in honor of longtime SPJ member of the Chicago Headline Club Howard Dubin, who not only contributes time and money to the Society but also remains dedicated to service at the chapter level.

Mark Pitsch
Nominated by Rebecca Wasieleski, Pitsch has been president of the Madison Pro Chapter for more than three years.

After the chapter was inactive for a number of years, Pitsch was elected president and helped re-activate the chapter with the help of other officers. He did this through creating programs, lining up speakers, sticking up for journalists and advocating for the public’s right to open government.

“Mark has shown an unwavering dedication to our group, invaluable programming skills and a willingness to take charge of miscellaneous projects and duties,” Wasieleski wrote.

J. Alex Tarquinio
Tarquinio was nominated by Steve Dunlop and Rebecca Baker, both of the New York Deadline Club, where she was president for the past two years.

She spent that time taking the largest SPJ chapter from great to greater. She accomplished this by increasing student scholarship funds, digitizing their awards, recruiting members, redesigning the club’s website, increasing social media usage, advocating for area journalists and reviving the New York Journalism Hall of Fame, among other accomplishments.

“Alex is a dynamo,” Dunlop wrote. “She does what others just talk about.”

Pitsch and Tarquinio will be recognized in Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 6 at Excellence in Journalism 2014.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. For more information on SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.

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