Post Alumni Make Finalists at SPJ Awards

On Saturday, April 8, the Pioneer won two Mark of Excellence awards at the Region 1 conference of the Society of Professional Journalists. Maxime Devillaz was a finalist in the Breaking News category for his story, “LIU Faculty Disruption To Begin Semester,” published on Sept. 14, 2016. Harry Pearse was a finalist in the General Column Writing category for his columns, “Hakuna Matata,” published on Nov. 16, 2016, “The Brilliance of Books,” published on Sept. 28, 2016, and “Success,” published on Oct. 5, 2016. This is the second year in a row that Devillaz and Pearse have won SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards for Region 1, which covers Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Central/Eastern Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The Region 1 SPJ conference this year focused on “Practicing Journalism in Dangerous Times and hosted professional journalists as well as students from colleges in the region, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. The Mark of Excellence Awards Luncheon featured keynote speaker Kyle Pope, the editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, who addressed the “exciting times we live in as journalists,” with multiple opportunities for stories.

“It’s always a great feeling to be recognized for your hard work and I’m proud Harry and I got to put The Pioneer on the map along with those other big dogs,” Devillaz said.