Congratulations to the two chapters selected to receive Chapter Grants for the month of January! They submitted stellar programming ideas and were rewarded accordingly, each receiving $250 to fund their upcoming event.

Don’t forget, your chapter can get cold, hard cash, too – just by applying. February applications aren’t due until Feb. 6, so apply now!

The University of Arizona was awarded a grant for their upcoming program, the Future of Investigative Reporting – With a Pulitzer Prize Winner, which features Ryan Gabrielson, a Pulitzer Prize winner for Local Reporting in 2009. Gabrielson and another University of Arizona Journalism School alumnus reported on Arizona’s controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio. According to Susan Knight, who applied for the grant on behalf of the chapter:

Their reporting on the sheriff’s illegal-immigration operation showed that other crimes, such as sexual assaults, were going un-pursued. In addition to winning the Pulitzer, the package of stories titled “Reasonable Doubt” won the George Polk Award for justice reporting, the Best of the West first place award for investigative reporting and the Arizona Press Club’s Don Belles award.

The chapter will invite Gabrielson to host a workshop on investigative reporting, give a public lecture and speak to several reporting classes about doing investigate journalism and new economic models in the news industry.

Alabama Pro, the second chapter awarded a grant for the month of January, “makes no bones about the fact that we are stealing this idea from the Minnesota chapter.” They plan to host their program, Freelance Love, in response to massive layoffs in their area, an effort to help people over the difficult hump. In their grant application, the chapter notes:

Alabama just suffered massive layoffs in the newspaper industry and there are more freelancers looking for work than ever. The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Mobile Press-Register laid off hundreds of people last summer, so the media industry here is in a state of shock.

The program aims to connect freelancers with potential employers and will be held at DISCO, a program in an “underserved neighborhood that helps students write, and keeps them off the streets.”

Congratulations to both chapters!

Congratulations to the two chapters receiving Chapter Grants for the month of December!

The campus SPJ chapter at Truman State University will be taking an in-depth look at crime reporting during their upcoming program “Inside look: Crime and emergency response reporting.” The chapter was awarded a $250 grant to partner with area emergency responders, including the University police, local police department and Sheriff’s office to “host a panel and a mock press conference to help the community better understand what happens during a criminal investigation as well as an emergency response situation.

The Virginia Pro chapter also received $250 for their program celebrating George Mason’s birthday. The program, which included a public reading of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and a lecture by Ashley Messenger, associate general counsel of National Public Radio, took place on Dec. 16.

Left to right, Julie Asher, Paul Fletcher, Caroline Cardwell and Brian Eckert read during a wreath-laying ceremony at the George Mason Memorial Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011.

Does your chapter want free money? There are still several opportunities to apply for one of SPJ’s Chapter Grants, where your chapter could receive up to $500 for unique and creative programming ideas. The next deadline is Jan. 9 so apply today!

Congratulations to the Ithaca College chapter and the Maryland Pro chapter for receiving October’s Chapter Grants, each for $250.

Ithaca College is welcoming David Cay Johnston, a career investigative reporter with the likes of the San Jose Mercury, Detroit Free Press and the LA Times, to name a few. Johnston is also the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for work at The New York Times, an IRE Medal and the George Polk Award. He’ll meet with two classes at the college, speaking with them about investigative reporting and his experience as Investigative Reporters and Editors president. Johnston will also be present at a dinner with Ithaca chapter members before he gives a keynote presentation in the evening on Nov. 13.

The Maryland Pro chapter is hosting “The Benefits of a Diverse Newsroom” on Nov. 9. The workshop will bring the chapter together with two surrounding universities - Salisbury University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore. David Burns of the Maryland Pro chapter says the program will:

challenge all SPJ members to confront journalism’s dreadful past with regard to diversity in the workplace and freely discuss our industry’s present and future.

Congratulations to both chapters and we look forward to seeing a recap in pictures or video!