Jill Konopka, Analisa Novak awarded SPJ travel grants
Analisa Novak
Jill Konopka
One professional journalist and one student journalist from Connecticut have been awarded travel grants from the Connecticut SPJ to attend the Excellence in Journalism 2017 conference in Anaheim, Calif., in September.
Jill Konopka, a member of NBC WVIT-30’s Troubleshooters team, is the recipient of the $1,100 professional travel grant awarded to one CT SPJ member.
In her application for the grant, Konopka said she would like to learn new ideas, tips, tricks, and topics to continue exploring investigative journalism.
“Now more than ever, I feel very strongly about my role as a reporter,” Konopka said. “In talking with residents of our state, they are most concerned about wasted tax payer dollars and pocket book issues. I want to hold the powerful accountable and expand my reporting skill set. I believe I could learn a lot at this conference.”
Konopka has been with NBC Connecticut since December 2015.
Analisa Novak, a Central Connecticut State University with an already impressive resume, was awarded $600 to attend the conference.
“The reason why I would like to attend is to gain more knowledge of how our campus organization can be more active and promote the ethics and principles that SPJ stands for,” Novak said in her application. “We are fairly new on campus and we have been trying to be as active as possible. From the very first day that I transferred into CCSU two years ago, I instantly felt a connection with the organization. ”
Novak is a senior at CCSI and is the current president of the CCSU SPJ chapter and a veteran of the U.S. Army.
Croteau arrived in Storrs after more than a decade working as a newspaper reporter and editor in Hartford and Providence. When she accepted the position in 1983, the department had three faculty members and a roomful of manual Underwood typewriters on old oaken desks. In 1985, she set up the department’s first computer lab, one of the first on campus. The department now has eight full-time faculty members, including two Pulitzer Prize winners, serving more than 200 undergraduate majors and pre-majors. Under her direction, the department has become the only nationally accredited journalism program in New England.
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Smith is known by many residents in Connecticut for her years as a reporter and anchor on local television stations. She is an award-winning reporter, anchor, writer, and producer. She has written books, is the producer of events for the Old State House in Hartford, and serves actively on a variety of boards, most recently for the Center for Women in Business at Quinnipiac University, where she was an adjunct years ago.