The hard work of dedicated journalists over the past year was honored and advice was given to the next generation at a magical night for media.

The Fort Worth chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists hosted its 21st SPJ-FW First Amendment Awards and Scholarship banquet in the Texas Ranger’s Golf Club. This banquet is held every year to announce the winners of the First Amendment awards and the Texas Gridiron scholarship winners.

This year the scope of the awards stretched beyond just the Fort Worth area and included recipients from The Dallas Morning News and even The Oklahoman from Oklahoma. The scholarship awardees also stretched beyond the DFW area, with recipients like Fatima Gamez Lopez from the University at Texas in Rio Grande Valley, who was awarded the Al Panzera scholarship, and Lucciana Choueiry of Texas State University who won the Jerry Flemmons scholarship.

The event included notable guests such as the city of Arlington’s communications director Jay Warren, as well as the keynote speaker WFAA-TV’s Cynthia Izaguirre. Izaguirre spoke about the importance of the First Amendment in the ever-changing world of journalism, especially when taking unwanted biases into account.

“We journalists have a mandatory obligation to hold to the truth whether it suits our likes or not,” she said. “This is why it’s so hard to navigate the news today. It bombards us with so many unvetted or biased online sources that we start losing the ability to distinguish between the truth and manipulative lies.”

She recounted many times in her career when she had to separate her feelings from the story to make sure that her viewers got the truth of the situation because what was important was honoring the First Amendment. She commended the winners of the scholarships for already dedicating themselves to journalistic integrity and ethics.

“You are smart young journalists who give the rest of us hope that you will continue to fight daily for the public’s right to know,” Izaguirre said. “You are also surrounded by other journalists tonight who are the best in the business and are here to encourage and support you as you become even stronger journalists.”

Also highlighted at the event were the internships SPJFW sponsors with organizations like the Fort Worth Report and KERA. Juan Salinas II, a University of Texas at Arlington student who has interned with both organizations, was invited to speak at the banquet. He said how he believes he is the journalist he is today because of his time working at the Fort Worth Report.

“I think the most important thing for me, at least, is that you’ve given an opportunity to someone that is underrepresented in media,” he said. “I probably would have been overlooked if I didn’t have any internships.”

Salinas also received the Staley and Beverly McBrayer scholarship, which recognizes excellence in college student media or as an intern with a professional news organization.

Also honored was the recipient of the Open Doors Award which celebrates an individual’s lifetime body of work in defending the people’s right to open government and open records, Dave “The Watchdog” Lieber. Lieber has been a member of SPJ for 39 years.

In his acceptance speech, instead of speaking about himself and his lifetime of work as a columnist at The Dallas Morning News, he focused on the future journalists in the audience.

“The audience is way more important than the writer,” he said. “So, what I want to do tonight is share with you some of the little tricks and tips and shortcuts that I’ve used as a writer and especially aiming them at the younger people in the room.”

Lieber listed over 20 tips he learned as a professional journalist and even printed copies to provide to the audience. Some were practical tips such as editing recommendations, and others were ways that journalists can make a difference such as making the struggling people the top priority in the story.

“I don’t know how long this is going to last, but as long as it does, we can fix a lot of problems very quickly for a lot of people and that’s really important to do,” he said.

Alex Hoben
SPJFW Intern

List of First Amendment Award Winners

Business News:

Print and online news category reaching over 100,000: Clifton Adcock of The Frontier “Most companies on Oklahoma’s blacklist aren’t actually subject to a state law banning ‘woke’ investing.”

Print and online news category reaching under 100,000: Steve Lackmeyer of The Oklahoman for “Behind two major OKC blazes were unlicensed OG&E contractors, no oversight or inspections.”

B2 broadcast medium market: KXAN investigative team for their series “TXtag troubles”

Defending the Disadvantaged:

Print and online over 100,000: Kim Krisberg and Hannah Levitan of the Public Health Watch and The Texas Tribune for in east Texas, “Living with diabetes and no health insurance”

Print and online under 100,000: Chase Rogers and Olivia Garrett of The Corpus Christi Caller Times for “Native American graves were dug up in Nueces County. Many human remains still await return.”

Broadcast major market category: Elena Rivera of KERA for “Trans kids, families and advocates feel unsafe as Texas moves to ban gender-affirming care”

Broadcast medium market category: Paul Flahive of Texas Public Radio for “Texas ‘washing hands’ of runaway and missing foster kids.”

General News:

Print or online news over 100,000: Ashlynd Huffman of The Frontier for “A criminal record and protective orders didn’t stop her attacker from having a gun.”

Print or online category under 100,000: Nolan Clay, of The Oklahoman for “Exclusive: secrecy surrounds probe into white supremacist gang over burnt bodies, meth and a growing list of missing people”

Broadcast major market: Miranda Suarez of Kera News for “Tarrant County inmate’s ‘unnecessary death’ spotlights mental health crisis in jails nationwide”

Broadcast medium market: Michael Marks of The Texas Standard for “Are Texans ready to live in bear country”

Spanish language division, the print/online under 100,000: Maria Ramos Pacheco of Al Dia for “The ‘Takuache’ fashion of square boots spreads among young Hispanics in Texas: the combination of cowboy cultures and traditions from Mexico and Texas creates a new trend.”

Spanish language division, broadcast medium: Pablo De La Rosa, of Texas Public Radio for “A video seems to show officials ignoring a woman with a baby in her arms at risk of drowning.”

Green News:

Print and online over 100,000: Clifton Adcock of the Frontier for “‘It will kill our town.’ Residents upstream from Grand Lake worry more flooding could be headed their way.”

Print and online under 100,000: Jana Hayes, of The Oklahoman for “Oil and gas wastewater is dumped in this OKC neighborhood, but changes could soon reduce stench”

Broadcast medium market: David Yeoman of KXAN for “Climate change not part of lcra water plan. KXAN investigation may change that”

Investigative News:

Print and online over 100,000: Brianna Bailey of The Frontier for “A man’s death in jail was ruled a homicide. Family and friends are still waiting for someone to be charged”

Print and online under 100,000: Chase Roger of The Corpus Christi Caller Times for “Disclosure of port of Corpus Christi CEO’s employment contract debate”

Broadcast medium market: KXAN investigative team for “Outlaw: a half-century criminalizing LGBTQ+ Texans”

Investigative-Spanish Language

Print/online over 100,000: Imelda García of Al Dia Dallas for “Mentors guide pleasant grove youth to a life free of violence and addiction”

Print/online under 100,000: José Luis Castillo of La Esquina for “Cryptofx: Mauricio Chavez, accused of multi-million dollar fraud, now charged with civil contempt”

Broadcast medium market: Stephania Corpi and Toya Sarno Jordan, of Texas Public Radio for Caliber 60

Opinion or Commentary:

Clytie Bunyan of The Oklahoman for “Ten commandments mandate? Focus instead on why public education is 49th in U.S.”

Student work (print, digital, broadcast) that appears in student media

Dang Le of The Shorthorn (UTA’s student news organization) for “Investigation shows former Vice President for student affairs solicited gifts during contract negotiations”

Student work/professional (print, digital and broadcast) that appears in professional media.

Juan Salinas II of KERA (An intern and UTA student)