Posts by Connecticut SPJ

CT SPJ annual dinner photo gallery

Maureen Croteau

University of Connecticut’s Journalism Department Chairwoman Maureen Croteau is the first woman to lead an academic department in UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and is its longest-serving department head. Last year, the department celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and Croteau has been its leader for the past 34 years.

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.

Since 1991, Croteau has been a director at The Day, where Publisher Gary Ferrugia calls her, “the conscience of the company in all matters regarding journalism.”

She is a UConn alumna and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is co-author of two books, and was the 2014 New England Journalism Educator of the Year, chosen by the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

CTSPJ Board of Directors 2017-2018

2017-2018 Officers:

Michael Savino
President

Jordan Otero
Vice President for Programming

Viktoria Sundqvist
Vice President for Communications

Bruno Matarazzo Jr.
Treasurer

Cara Rosner
Secretary

Paul Singley
Immediate Past President

2016-17 Board of Directors:

• Darren Sweeney
• Pete Paguaga
• Leslie Hutchison
• Elizabeth Glagowski
• Andrew Ragali
• Ajhani Ayres
• Jodie Mozdzer Gil

2017 Theodore Driscoll Award for Investigative Reporting finalists

Here are the finalists for the 2017 Theodore Driscoll Award for Investigative Reporting Award. The winner will be announced at the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame at its annual dinner on May 25. More information on the dinner here. And you can buy tickets here.

Desperate choices: Giving up custody for care; Connecticut Health I-Team; Lisa Chedekel, Tony Bacewicz

Inside the money game; Connecticut Post; Ken Dixon, Angela Carella, Neil Vigdor

Missing at sea; Hartford Courant; Dave Altimari, David Owens

New pieces to art puzzle; Hartford Courant; Edmund H. Mahony

Left stranded; Hartford Courant; Josh Kovner

Commissioners with benefits; NBC 30; Jonathan Wardle, Len Besthoff

2017 Stephen A. Collins Public Service Award finalists

Here are the finalists for the 2017 Stephen A. Collins Public Service Award. The winner will be announced at the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame at its annual dinner on May 25. More information on the dinner here. And you can buy tickets here.

Deadly day care; Connecticut Post; Bill Cummings 

Connecticut’s opioid crisis; Hartford Courant; Maura Casey (one in a series of editorials)

Left stranded; Hartford Magazine; Josh Kovner

Derbygate; Norwich Bulletin; Ryan Blessing

Increasing transparency amid rising gun violence; Record-Journal; Lauren Sievert, Andrew Ragali, Bryan Lipiner, Molly  Callahan, Jesse Buchanan, Leigh Tauss, Eric Cotton, Jeffery Kurz, Richie Rathsack (one in a series of stories)

Troubled schools on trial; The Connecticut Mirror; Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Diane Smith and Maureen Croteau to be inducted into Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame

The Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists board of directors will induct two longtime journalists into the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame at its annual dinner on May 25.

University of Connecticut’s Journalism Department Chairwoman Maureen Croteau and television and radio broadcaster and author Diane Smith each had careers that spanned more than 30 years.

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.

She recently founded Diane Smith Media and is an independent contractor with the Connecticut Network (CT-N).

Croteau is the first woman to lead an academic department in UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and is its longest-serving department head. Last year, the department celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and Croteau has been its leader for the past 34 years.

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.

Since 1991, Croteau has been a director at The Day, where Publisher Gary Ferrugia calls her, “the conscience of the company in all matters regarding journalism.”

She is a UConn alumna and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is co-author of two books, and was the 2014 New England Journalism Educator of the Year, chosen by the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

Connecticut SPJ 2017 Scholarship Call for Entries

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 12, 2017!

The Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists Foundation Inc. presents the Bob Eddy Scholarship Program To Foster Journalism Careers.

The 2017 Scholarship program is now open! The deadline to apply has been extended to April 12, 2017. 

This year we will honor five journalism students with awards totalling $6,500.

To apply for a scholarship, students must start their junior, senior year in the fall 2017 and be enrolled at an accredited university in Connecticut or be a Connecticut resident enrolled in an accredited university in any state or country.

Apply today.

Sigma Delta Chi Awards entry deadline is Feb. 13

The following is a message from National SPJ about the SDX awards:

Part of SPJ’s mission is to foster excellence among journalists. We do that by honoring great journalism with Sigma Delta Chi Awards. SDX Awards recognize your hard work and showcase the ethical, excellent journalism produced by journalists every day.

As the new year begins, take a moment to reflect on your work from 2016. Pick your best pieces and submit them for the Sigma Delta Chi Awards. You can find all the information about the contest here.

The deadline to submit your work is Feb. 13

CTSPJ statement on New Haven reporter’s arrest

Statement from Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists President Mike Savino following an incident this month involving a New Haven Independent reporter and New Haven police.

“We are greatly disappointed in the decision by the New Haven police department to arrest a working journalist.

We recognize that police have legitimate concerns when setting a perimeter around a scene and urge journalists to respect those boundaries, but an arrest is extreme when less draconian remedies would have sufficed. Additionally, we are concerned by officers’ attempts to seize the memory card from a reporter’s camera, especially in light of New Haven Police Department’s historical failure to recognize the public’s First Amendment Right to record police.

The Connecticut General Assembly even felt compelled to pass legislation reaffirming this right in response to actions by New Haven police, among other agencies. Allowing the press and general public to freely monitor the government that serves on their behalf are an essential part of democracy.”

Longtime journalist and Connecticut SPJ board member dies

Longtime Connecticut journalist Debra “Debbie” Ann Estock, 61, of Fairfield, died Tuesday, Nov. 29.

Estock worked for many years as an editor at The Cooperator, a publication that serves the co-op and condo community on articles on management, finance and maintenance.

Estock was a longtime member and board member of the Connecticut SPJ, serving as chairwoman of the scholarship committee for nine years, starting in 2000.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Emery’s Church, 838 Kings Highway, Fairfield. Burial will be at Mt. Grove Cemetery.

Visiting hours will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Lesko & Polke Funeral Home, 1209 Post Road, Fairfield Center.