Passing of WPLN's Rebecca Bain

One of the fixtures of Nashville's public radio station, Rebecca Bain, has passed. More from WPLN at this link.

On the passing of our friend and former chapter president Duren Cheek

I know that all of us in the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter of SPJ are sad to hear of the passing of our dear friend and former chapter president Duren Cheek.

It was a privilege to have known Duren and worked with him at The Tennessean, where for many years he was a top political reporter. But before he came to the paper, he worked for many years at United Press International in its heyday.

You can read a more thorough accounting of Duren's UPI career written by his friend and UPI comrade Jim East at this link.

Duren was an early president of this chapter, a participant in many years of Gridiron shows, and launched the chapter's Duffers' Golf Tournament, which benefited what is now the Drue Smith/SPJ Scholarship Fund. Several years ago, the Duffers' was formally renamed as the Duren Cheek Invitational Golf Tournament.

Duren's dedication to SPJ was evident to everyone who worked with him. He will deeply missed.

Channel 4's Jeremy Finley wins 2010 IRE award for flood investigation

Congratulations to Jeremy Finley of WSMV-Channel 4, who won has won the 2010 IRE award in the category of "breaking news investigations" for all media for his flood-related report called "A Failure to Warn."

Jeremy was also a finalist in the television category for below-Top-20 markets with his report "Deception of the Desperate."

Chapter president Fellows turns over the reins due to move to Texas

For those of you who have not heard via WPLN, our chapter president and my personal friend, local Morning Edition host Jacqueline Fellows, is leaving NashVegas to move back to her hometown of Dallas.

I know we are all sad to see her go but excited for her that she is heading back to her roots, and we all wish her the greatest success.

Our new incoming chapter president will be our president-elect (and my old boss at The Tennessean), Deborah Fisher.

Congratulations! 

Channel 5 takes two first places in Nat'l Headliner Awards

Congrats to our Tennessee winners in the 2011 National Headliner Awards!

Jennifer Kraus and Bryan Staples of WTVF-Channel 5 took first place in the broadcast category for business and consumer reporting for their report "veteran support organization." And Channel 5's Ben Hall and Iain Montgomery took first place in the environmental reporting category for "Big Coal's Political Power."

More winners:

• Local interest column on variety of subjects, 2nd place, for (my friend and former co-worker) Wendi C. Thomas of the Commercial Appeal.
• Individual sports column, first place, went to Geoff Calkins of the Commercial Appeal.
• Education writing, 2nd place, went to (more friends and former co-workers) Jaime Sarrio and Brad Schrade of The Tennessean. 

See all the recipients here.

SPJ Region 12 spring conference goes off without a hitch at Lipscomb

Journalists from Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana converged on the Lipscomb University campus in Nashville Saturday for the 2011 Society of Professional Journalists' Region 12 spring conference.

Among the highlights:

• Our keynote speaker, SPJ national president and Nashvillian by upbringing Hagit Limor, gave a behind-the-scenes look at her reporting from Japan during the recent earthquake and tsunami and talked about the recent and troubling trend of states gutting their open government laws;
• Prof. Sybril Bennett of Belmont University got rave reviews for her morning session on multimedia in the changing journalism landscape
• The Louisiana schools took home bucketloads of honors in the Mark of Excellence awards for student journalism. Among our local winners were Lipscomb, TSU and Vol State (see separate post for more details and a complete list of winners). 
• And Prof. Donald Page of TSU won the door prize drawing, taking home free registration to the SPJ/RTDNA convention in September in New Orleans. 

Thanks to everyone who attended and volunteered!

Lipscomb, TSU, Vol State honored at Mark of Excellence Awards

Student journalists from Lipscomb University, Tennessee State University and Volunteer State Community College took home honors today in the Society of Professional Journalists' Mark of Excellence competition for Region 12.

Lipscomb took first place awards for breaking television reporting, online news reporting and best independent online student publication, along with a second-place finish in breaking news photography.

TSU won first place for best all-around radio newscast for WTST AM-1600's Tiger News Network reports.

Vol State took home first place for best student magazine in the two-year college category.

The awards were given out today during the regional conference on the Lipscomb campus.

Congrats to our local winners! For details on all the winners, check out the complete list below.

2011 Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 Mark of Excellence Awards results