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The Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Newspaper Guild, the Pacific Media Workers Guild, and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians condemn the Oakland Police Department’s arrests of journalists covering a public event this weekend.

On Saturday, Jan. 28, at least six journalists covering Occupy Oakland protests were arrested. Despite identifying themselves as reporters and displaying their press credentials, two were jailed.

In a letter to the Oakland mayor and police chief, SPJ NorCal and partner organizations call on the OPD to follow its own guidelines, which instruct police to permit media to carry out their professional duties even after police have issued a dispersal order, as long as ” their presence would unduly interfere with the enforcement action.”

Why is this important?

Freedom of the press is key to our democracy and must be vigorously defended. Arrests of journalists and other police interference with reporters and photographers cannot be tolerated.

This is the second time SPJ NorCal has protested the OPD’s failure to follow its own guidelines on non-interference with journalists doing their jobs.

We once again invite Mayor Quan and Police Chief Jordan to the table to discuss ways to ensure that Oakland police no longer detain, harass, or otherwise block journalists from doing their jobs reporting breaking news.

SPJ NorCal on Monday issued a letter to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and Police Chief Howard Jordan condemning the arrest of independent journalist Susie Cagle during Occupy Oakland protests on Nov. 3. Cagle was arrested and held in custody for 15 hours despite displaying a press badge and  identifying herself as a journalist and despite the fact that an officer at the scene acknowledged his familiarity with her published work.

The action is part of a disturbing trend of police officers at Occupy protests nationwide arresting journalists covering the events.

SPJ President John Ensslin last week issued a statement urging mayors across the country to drop charges against these journalists and calling on police to exercise greater care to avoid arresting journalists who are simply doing their jobs.

“We know that as protests escalate it may be difficult for police to distinguish bystanders from participants, but it is clear now that many journalists have been erroneously arrested without cause,” Ensslin said. “These errors must be rectified immediately.”

Attendees at our annual Excellence in Journalism awards dinner will have a chance to bid on some fabulous items. Check out this preview of our two live auction items — a Mexican dinner party for 6 with chef Simona Padilla and framed original editorial cartoon of “The Vanishing Newsroom” by Peaco Todd — as well as many great silent-auction items, such as Tahoe ski trips, lunch with a literary agent, tango lessons, an adult fencing class, and a variety of wines from the San Francisco Chronicle’s cellar. Here’s the full list: Read the rest of this entry »

The new deadline for submitting entries to the 2011 Excellence in Journalism Awards is: August 30. Submissions must be complete and paid for by the end of that day to be considered for awards.

The online system for submitting your work is: Awards.SPJNorCal.org

Complete details about the awards are at: 26th ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The site is at: Awards.SPJNorCal.org

Deadline for submitting entries: Aug. 19 Aug. 30. Winners will be announced in October.

For complete details see: 26th ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

Good luck!

We are using a new system this year to allow you to submit your entries for the 26th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards online. The site will go live on Wednesday, August 10. We will post the link here once it is live.

Reminder: The deadline for submitting entries is August 19 August 30.

More information on the awards, including categories and entry requirements, is here: 26th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards: Call for Nominations. Winners will be announced in October.

Know a deserving journalist who soldiers on through cutbacks to tell the truth? Get the story, photo or video? Whose dedication to our craft is second to none? Or is that journalist you? For the past 26 years, the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has selected from among the Bay Area’s best of the best for its acclaimed Excellence in Journalism Awards. These awards honor the journalists whose work best reflects the SPJ ideals of initiative, integrity, talent and compassion.

This year marks two significant changes to the awards: categories and entries. The board voted to realign the categories to reflect changes in journalism: Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia. Some categories will also be subdivided into daily and non-daily. The six special Board of Directors Awards will remain the same: Journalist of the Year, Career Achievement, Distinguished Service, Unsung Hero, Meritorious SPJ Service and the Silver Heart.

The change to an online-only format, a first for this chapter, is one that we hope will make the contest process easier and faster. We will no longer accept mailed entries. The contest entry site will feature a one-stop shop for all your contest needs, including a short video with detailed, step-by-step instructions. All entrants need to do is create an account, and the site will walk you through the rest. As with all product launches, however, we anticipate a few kinks along the way. We thank you in advance for your patience as we make this important transition and would appreciate your feedback. The site — awards.spjnorcal.org — is set to go live by Aug. 6.

Details and rules below. Deadline Aug. 19 Aug. 30. Best of luck!

Instructions:

Stories must have been published between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011, by a news outlet or individuals based in Northern California.

DEADLINE: Aug. 19. Entries must be time-stamped by Aug. 19, 2011 Aug. 30, 2011.

QUESTIONS: Call chapter President Liz Enochs at (415) 323-0220.

CONTEST CATEGORIES

BREAKING NEWS

Honors individuals, teams or news organizations whose work demonstrates clear and accurate reporting and graceful writing on deadline. Judges will consider deadline pressure and complexity of subject.

Entry specifications: Submit up to three stories.

Categories: Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Honors individuals or teams that identify important issues and demonstrate initiative, persistence and resourcefulness pursuing information that is restricted or not easily available.

Entry specifications: Submit one story or series of related stories.

Categories: Daily and non-daily in Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia.

EXPLANATORY JOURNALISM

Honors journalists who increase readers’ and/or viewers’ understanding of significant or complex issues. Entries may add understanding to issues in the news or may focus on issues largely uncovered by the media.

Entry specifications: Submit one story or series of related stories.

Categories: Daily and non-daily in Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia.

COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

Honoring journalists and organizations whose primary focus is coverage of a well-defined small community or neighborhood. Entries may include print publications, news broadcasts or news sites. University-supported projects are not eligible. Entry specifications: This is for community-based outlets. Submit no more than five news stories or packages demonstrating the range and depth of local news coverage.

Categories: Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia.

FEATURE STORYTELLING

Honors journalists for exceptional writing that demonstrates originality of approach. Judges will consider humor or drama evoked, style, clarity of writing and suitability of the writing to the subject.

Entry specifications: Submit story or series.

Categories: Daily and non-daily in Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia.

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS

Honors individuals for exceptional writing of commentary, analysis and editorials. Print entries may include bylined or unsigned editorials and columns. Online entries may include news-related blogs. Judges will consider quality of writing, clarity of analysis and originality of approach.

Entry specifications: Submit up to three samples

Categories: Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia.

ARTS & CULTURE REPORTING

Honors journalists for incisive reporting about art, music, movies, theater, dance, books, restaurants, architecture or other public performance. May also include reviews. Judges will consider quality of analysis and persuasiveness of arguments.

Entry specifications: Submit up to three samples

Categories: Daily and non-daily in Print/Text, Radio/Audio, TV/Video and Multimedia.

JOURNALISM INNOVATION

Honors individuals or organizations that have demonstrated innovative ways to further the goals of journalism, using online tools, new funding strategies and/or other approaches; entrants should demonstrate how innovation has led to unique coverage.

Entry specifications: Submit up to three samples showing how this innovation works.

Categories: All media.

PHOTOJOURNALISM

Limited to 3 separate submissions of not more than 15 images each. Include the written story or explanation:

1) Newspaper stories/essays/features (for stories published either in print or on a paper’s website)

2) Magazine stories/essays/features (for stories published in print or on the magazine’s website)

3) Audio slideshow: Limited to 1 audio slideshow up to 3 minutes in length.

Limited to 1 submission not to exceed 10 images:

4) Newspaper single image/portfolio

OUTSTANDING EMERGING JOURNALIST

Honors a journalist with less than five years of professional experience whose work shows great promise. Entry specifications: Submit resume and three samples of work.

Categories: All media

STUDENT SPECIAL PROJECT

Honors individuals or classes of college-level students for exemplary reporting, writing, and/or photography produced by all forms of student media, including special projects that report local news. These should be student-generated and not part of an ongoing university-sponsored project. Entry specifications: Submit up to three samples.

Categories: All media

PUBLIC SERVICE

Honors individuals, teams, or news organizations that try to improve conditions for the benefit of society. Entries will be judged on the significance of the issues, evidence of initiative, effectiveness of presentation and results obtained or pledged.

Entry specifications: May include project articles, editorials, public service announcements, cartoons, photos, graphics and online material.

Categories: All media

NORCAL SPJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ AWARDS CATEGORIES:

(A nomination letter is required; also see online instructions)

Journalist of the Year: For extraordinary journalistic contributions in the past year.

Career Achievement: For extraordinary achievements exemplifying the highest standards of the profession.

Unsung Hero: A person whose contribution to journalism is often overlooked (e.g., copy editor, librarian, web producer).

Meritorious SPJ Service/The John Gothberg Award: For outstanding contributions to the NorCal Chapter of SPJ.

Distinguished Service: For distinguished service to journalism by a journalist or non-journalist.

The Silver Heart: Awarded to a journalist whose career reflects an extraordinary dedication to giving voice to the voiceless.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Stories must have been published between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011, by a news outlet or individuals based in Northern California.

Deadline: Entries must be time-stamped by Aug. 19, 2011 Aug. 30, 2011.

Multiple entries: Only stories or projects entered in the Public Service category may also be entered in one other category.

Fee: $30 per entry for SPJ members*; $40 per entry for non-members.

*To be eligible for the $30 member entry fee, you must be a member of both the SPJ national organization (current price $72) AND the SPJ Northern California chapter ($20) at the time-stamp of entry. Membership is good for 12 months, based on the date you joined. Chapter membership entitles you to free or reduced member admission to NorCal chapter activities, including the Excellence in Journalism Awards dinner. See www.spj.org/join.asp to join SPJ and the NorCal chapter.

Submission website: awards.spjnorcal.org (will go live by Aug. 6)

Where: Mechanic’s Institute, 57 Post St. (between Montgomery & Kearney), 4th Floor, San Francisco (BART/Muni Stop: Montgomery)
Date: Wed., July 20, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Discussion + Q&A: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.)
Price: $5 for SPJ members, $10 for nonmembers
Snacks and drinks (alcoholic and nonalcoholic) will be provided.
No cash? Send entry fee in advance by PayPal to jredhage(at)gmail.com.

Is there life after journalism? Former journalists now working in the public, private and nonprofit sectors talk about their experiences transitioning to new fields. How did their journalism training aid them in their next career? What other careers are good fits for journalists? What are the advantages and disadvantages of exiting journalism? And is the move permanent?

Featuring:

Linda Strean, Associate Director of Communications at the nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank Public Policy Institute of California, who was metro editor and deputy managing editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, managing editor at the Santa Barbara News-Press and managing editor of nonprofit website GreatSchools.net.

Lisa Bowman, a civil rights plaintiff lawyer at Schneider Wallace Cottrell Brayton Konecky LLP in San Francisco, who worked for nearly 10 years as a reporter for news outlets including CNET News, the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg and KQED Public Radio.

Joshua Peck, Senior Media Relations Manager at 700-attorney international law firm Duane Morris LLP, who reported for newspapers in Michigan and New York before working as press secretary for a Congressional campaign, press assistant in the New York State Senate and a lobbyist for the Jewish philanthropic organization UJA-Federation of New York.

Becky Bowman, Display Network specialist at Google Inc., who was a newspaper reporter at the Hearst Corporation, a fact-checker at Women’s Health magazine and a freelance writer for three years prior to joining the search giant as an optimizer in advertising sales.

Moderated by Jill Redhage, Staff Writer at the San Francisco Daily Journal and program committee member for the Society of Professional Journalists – Northern California Chapter.

Direct questions to jredhage(at)gmail.com.

Thanks to our generous friends at SFGTV, which provides video coverage of San Francisco government meetings and events, we are able to offer a replay of SPJ NorCal’s Town Hall Forum, an event held Wed. Apr. 6 at the San Francisco Public Library. The robust discussion of new media drew a lively crowd, with lots of good questions from the audience and thoughtful responses from our all-star panelists.

On February 24, SPJ-NorCal and CNET co-hosted a panel on how journalism changes in the age of WikiLeaks.

Complete description of the panel is here.

Panelists:

• Declan McCullagh, chief political correspondent, CNET
• Caille Millner, San Francisco Chronicle
• Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief, Wired.com
• Jalal Ghazi, New America Media
• Burt Herman, Hacks & Hackers, Storify

Moderator: E.B. Boyd, FastCompany.com and board member, SPJ-NorCal

Video courtesy of CNET Reporters’ Roundtable.