PRESS CLUB OF LONG ISLAND 2008 MEDIA AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Long Island Business News publisher John Kominicki named Outstanding Long Island Journalist for 2008

June 5, 2008 – The Press Club of Long Island, a chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, has announced winners of the 2008 Long Island Media Awards Contest. At the club’s annual Media Awards Dinner held in Woodbury, 128 awards were presented in 55 categories, covering print, television, radio and online media. Long Island Business News publisher John Kominicki received the press club’s Outstanding Long Island Journalist Award for his body of work at the weekly paper.

The Robert Greene Public Service Award, renamed this year to honor the Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist who died this year, went to Newsday for the investigative series “They Failed to Act,” which detailed the history of problems with platform gaps at Long Island Rail Road stations. The club also announced that it was joining with Hofstra University to create a new Robert W. Greene Memorial Scholarship for a journalism student at the university. In addition, PCLI has committed annual funding to a proposed Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists at Stony Brook University.

PCLI board member Norm Prusslin received the Phil Spahn Award for outstanding service to journalism and the community for his role as director of media arts and interdisciplinary minors at Stony Brook University.

The press club presented three $1,000 college scholarships to students studying journalism. The scholarships went Deneil Clarke, Laura Lopez and Breanna Walden, all of New York Institute of Technology.

The Hank Logeman/News 12 High School Journalism Award went to James Brierton of Smithtown High School East. The $2,000 award, funded by New 12 Long Island, honors Logeman, a longtime journalist and UPI reporter who worked out of the Garden City pressroom.

Herald Community Newspapers executive editor John O’Connell was elected PCLI president, the 21st journalist to hold the position since the press club’s founding in 1974. Meredith Daniels of Newsday.com was elected executive vice president. Also elected were Jamie Lynn Ryan of Neighbor Newspapers, vp/print; Michael DelGiudice of WNBC-News, vp/electronic; Bill Bleyer of Newsday, treasurer; David North of David North Media and WALK, recording secretary; and Carl Corry of News 12 Interactive, corresponding secretary.

The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation’s largest and most broad-based journalism organization with over 300 local chapters totaling more than 9,000 members nationwide. SPJ is dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.

For a complete list of winners, click here.