For immediate release:

April 10, 2019

Society of Professional Journalists Detroit announces Journalist of the Year Finalists

This year’s winner to be announced at the group’s annual awards banquet May 2

DETROIT – The Detroit chapter of Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ Detroit) today announced
finalists for its 2018 Journalist of the Year and Young Journalist of the Year honors to be awarded at
the chapter’s Excellence in Journalism awards banquet Thursday, May 2, at the San Marino Club –
1685 E. Big Beaver Rd. – in Troy.

Finalists for Journalist of the Year are: Finalists for Young Journalist of the Year are:
• Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press • Allie Gross, Detroit Free Press
• Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News • Darcie Moran, MLive
• Lindsey Smith/Kate Wells, Michigan Radio • Sarah Rahal, The Detroit News

“Our annual Excellence in Journalism banquet is a celebration of the greatest multimedia reporting by
Detroit area journalists, and this year’s finalists produced some of the best the industry has to offer,”
said Beth Konrad, chapter president and Professor of Practice/Adjunct Wayne State University. “SPJ
Detroit looks forward to honouring them, as well as our other award recipients and Lifetime
Achievement Award honorees.”

Several of Metro Detroit’s most respected journalists have been selected by the SPJ Detroit board of
directors to receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards.

The historic careers of Angelo B. Henderson and Felecia D. Henderson offer a magnificent mural
of journalistic achievement in Metro Detroit. The lives and career paths of this power couple have
been intertwined from their departures from their native Louisville, Ky., to their arrival in 1989 to the
Detroit market.

Angelo Henderson would win a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 as senior special writer for Page One at The
Wall Street Journal, prior to serving as an automotive reporter and Detroit deputy bureau chief. He
would eventually leave print media, join the ministry, and become the daily host of “Your Voice with
Angelo Henderson” on WCHB-AM, until his death in 2014.

Felecia Henderson would rise to become an assistant managing editor for features and presentation
at The Detroit News in 2007, and eventually be named a Pulitzer Prize nominating juror in 2018 and
chairing the prize’s feature writing jury. She took a buyout from the paper in 2019 and founded RAVE
Strategic Communications LLC, a consulting firm.

In addition to their illustrious journalistic careers, both were active in the metro community, having
won numerous awards in both fields.

Felecia Henderson’s career includes stints at the Cincinnati Post and the Courier-Journal in Louisville.
Although she joined The Detroit News in 1989, she joined the Detroit Free Press as an assistant
features editor before re-joining The News 18 months later. She is a graduate of Murray State
University, which honored her with a 2019 distinguished alumni award. She also earned a master’s
degree in organizational development from Bowling Green (Ohio) State University.
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Angelo Henderson’s career included stints at the St. Petersburg Times, The Courier-Journal and two
tours at The Detroit News. He also served at one point as an associate editor at Real Times Inc., a
newspaper chain that includes The Michigan Chronicle and The Chicago Defender. He is a graduate
of the University of Kentucky, and later was inducted into the school’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of
Fame. In 2018, he was posthumously named a distinguished alumnus of the university’s College of
Communications and Information.

As President and CEO of Detroit Public Television (DPTV), Rich Homberg manages the largest and
only community-licensed public television station in Michigan with over 2 million viewers weekly. He
was one of the first to recognize the crucial importance of public television taking a leadership role in
local journalism and public affairs.

Under his guidance, DPTV has established an active and growing editorial team in the heart of
Detroit. Last year, it premiered the weekly “One Detroit” news program, featuring on-location reports
based on deep immersion in the communities it covers. It has adopted an innovative model for
solutions journalism, taping frequent “roadshows, live community conversations at which residents are
able to hear directly from public officials and community leaders on the issues that matter most to
their lives, families and neighborhoods.

Prior to joining DPTV, Homberg was vice president and general manager of WWJ Newsradio 950 in
Detroit for more than 20 years. Under his direction the station won numerous awards for breaking
news and was consistently one of the city’s highest rated stations.

For nearly 40 years as a Detroit Free Press photographer and editor Mary Schroeder was on the
side-lines and frontlines of some of Detroit’s most memorable moments. She’s best known for the
iconic image of Detroit Tiger Kirk Gibson leaping in victory after his second home run in Game 5 of
the World Series, but she was also a pioneer for women in journalism. In 1983 at age 26, Schroeder
was the only female sports photographer in the country covering sports full time for a major
newspaper. In 1985, she was a plaintiff in a lawsuit asking that the Detroit Lions allow equal access in
the locker room to male and female reporters and photographers. In the last decade of her career,
Schroeder worked as a picture editor -- coaching young photographers and reporters about
photography, and Detroit and Free Press history.

In addition, Danny Raskin of the Detroit Jewish News will be honored for his more than 75 years as a
weekly columnist and restaurant critic with a Legacy Award.

SPJ Detroit will also present first, second and third place, along with honorable mention awards for
Excellence in Journalism during the May 2 event. These awards recognize Metro Detroit’s best
journalists and their work during 2018.

The Journalist of the Year honors and Excellence in Journalism awards were selected by a jury of
veteran journalists and educators from several news media outlets outside Metro Detroit.

Discounted tickets can be purchased in advance of the banquet through Friday, April 26. Tickets
purchased at the door cost $70. Funds raised will benefit SPJ Detroit’s scholarship fund.

Additional details and tickets for the banquet are available at www.spjdetroit.org.

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Media Contact:
Dan Stocking, SPJ Detroit Treasurer
734-755-1650
Danielstocking@gmail.com