Click here to read more from Fox Connecticut. Click here to read a complete list of nominations.

You may reach her at csimoneau@ctspj.org.

You may reach him at jdunklee@ctspj.org.

You may reach her at vsingh@ctspj.org.

You may reach him at tvaluckas@ctspj.org.

You may reach him at dstacom@ctspj.org.

2012-13 Officers and Board of Directors

Officers (One-year terms for all officers)
President — Jodie Mozdzer, Valley Independent Sentinel
Vice President– Don Stacom, Hartford Courant
Vice President/Communications– Jamie DeLoma, Quinnipiac University/ Hearst Connecticut Newspapers
Treasurer– Cara Baruzzi, United Way of New Haven
Secretary– Ricky Campbell, Torrington Register

Immediate Past President– Cindy Simoneau, Southern CT State University/ Hearst Connecticut Newspapers (serves until another past president rotates to the position)

Board of Directors (varying terms)
To be elected:
Liz Glagowski — 1to1Media (Two-year term ends 2014)
Daniela Forte — Litchfield County Times (Two-year term ends 2014)
Zach Janowski — Yankee Institute for Public Policy (Two-year term ends 2014)
Paul Gough — retired CT. Agricultural Experiment Station (One-year term ends 2013)
Khrystyne Keane — American Radio Relay League (One-year term ends 2013)

No election required:
Lila Carney — Quinnipiac University (Serving second of two-year term, ends 2013)

This intensive summer investigative reporting workshop will provide up to 25 high school students with the opportunity to develop investigative reporting skills in a unique workshop environment led by distinguished local and national journalists.

Selected students will spend a week on a university campus, learning the tools of investigative journalism by participating in workshops led by award-winning journalists; working on stories for publication; and spending a day visiting local newsrooms.

Click here for more details on C-HIT’s website.

When: July 9-13, 2012, at Quinnipiac University campus, Hamden, CT
July 16-20, 2012, at University of Connecticut campus, Storrs, CT

WORKSHOP TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Initiating investigative stories: where to look

• Conducting effective interviews

• Perfecting your writing style

• Using public data in investigative reporting

• Using Twitter, Facebook as reporting tools and web-based journalism.

• Journalistic ethics

Instructors include: Lisa Chedekel, award-winning investigative reporter, formerly for The Hartford Courant, now senior writer for C-HIT; Lynne DeLucia, Pulitzer Prize-winning former editor of The Hartford Courant, now editor and co-founder of C-HIT; Colleen Shaddox, award-winning writer whose work has been featured by The New York Times, Washington Post and National Public Radio and Kate Farrish, an award-winning veteran reporter, formerly of The Hartford Courant and now an adjunct professor at UConn.

WHO’S ELIGIBLE AND HOW TO APPLY:

Eligibility: High school students, ages 16 and older, with a strong interest in journalism; prior experience writing for school publications an asset.

Cost: $800 for the five-day (9-5 p.m.) program. (Some scholarships available) Students with a need for overnight accommodations should contact Lynne DeLucia at delucia@c-hit.org.

Program structure: Students will spend mornings learning reporting, writing and investigative skills. Afternoon workshops will be led by working journalists, in which students will use data to produce in-depth stories for their school newspapers or local publications.
Applications due: June 1, 2012.

For application form or queries, contact Lynne at delucia@c-hit.org, or 203-215-6373.

This program is supported by the Dow Jones News Fund

Guest speaker Attorney General George Jepsen. Photo by Mitchell Pearlman

By Don Stacom

One of the biggest crowds in recent memory for an annual Connecticut FOI Conference turned out April 3 to hear spirited debates about how — or if — free information and economic development can co-exist.

Panels and workshops also provided news about recent FOI precedents and interpretations, along with insights into the latest issues surrounding public access to information.

The key debate featured Andrew. J. McDonald, the governor’s chief legal counsel, and Preston First Selectman Robert Congon arguing for why government wants — and corporations demand — temporary secrecy during sensitive bargaining about economic development.

Taxpayers aren’t well served if detailed news reports in mid-negotiation scare off companies that might have brought jobs and tax dollars to the state, they said.

On the other side, Connecticut Mirror reporter Keith M. Phaneuf joined Agility Resources Group President Vincent M. Valvo, a former Hartford Courant reporter, in giving the case for faster and more extensive transparency.

“Ever since the first bill was passed, we’ve done nothing to expand it. What comes out every year at the Legislature are attempts to restrain it and pull it back,” Valvo said. “We ought to be embracing a culture of openness.”

Phaneuf offered a series of examples of state bureaucrats illegally withholding information for reasons as petty as personal convenience. For years, one state agency refused to give out financial documents until two days after distributing them to legislators, defending the policy as merely “being sure that everyone is comfortable” with the numbers, he said.

“There is no comfort clause in the FOI law,” Phaneuf pointed out.

But he also acknowledged that years of cost-cutting are responsible for many of the media’s failings as a watchdog. Too few young reporters understand FOI law or how to use it effectively, he said.

“The media today is shrinking, inexperienced and borderline irresponsible — I’m tempted to take the ‘borderline’ out,” Phaneuf said. “We’re lucky if the (Capitol) press corps is one-quarter the size of what it was in 1988, and probably has one-quarter of the experience level.”

The conference was sponsored by the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government and the Connecticut Council of Freedom of Information.

You can access the website to enter by clicking this link.

The college contest is open for stories and photos published in college media in Connecticut between April 22, 2011 and April 1, 2012.

This year, the contest will accept all media types — television, radio, online and print. A full list of categories is posted below.

Entries are limited to three per person per category. Each story, editorial, photo, etc. is a separate entry.

Entry Fees:

• $5 for active SPJ members
• $10 for non-members and colleges or universities paying for entries

NOTE: You must choose “College Contest” as the main category for entry in the contest system, or your entries will be disqualified.

If you have questions or problems, contact contest coordinator Jodie Mozdzer at jmozdzer@ctspj.org.

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