L to R: Workshop president Thom Clark, 2013 Terkel Award Winners Fernando Diaz, Megan Cottrell, Dave Hoekstra, Lorne Clarkson. (photo by Olga Lopez)

We honor journalists who go the extra mile to report news “from the people who made Chicago, news that’s bottom up rather than up, down,” as Studs said at our 2007 awards event. “That’s what this is all about.”

Louis B. “Studs” Terkel, the “patron saint” of Community Media Workshop from its founding in 1989, gracefully and graciously led these tributes to a special kind of Chicago journalism — the kind that, in the words of Salim Muwakkil at the March 2009 event, “is more important now than ever before.”

Presented annually, the Studs Terkel Media Awards honor outstanding media professionals for excellence in covering and reflecting Chicago’s diverse communities. Terkel Awards highlight reporters who take risks in covering social issues by offering new or unusual perspectives on topics of general concern, from housing to neighborhood safety and beyond. The awards reward a body of work rather than a single article or series, and go to journalists at any stage of their career.

In addition to calling attention to the best journalism covering Chicago’s diverse communities, the awards provide significant support and underwriting for all of Community Media Workshop’s programmatic work, such as free communications coaching for nonprofits, Newstips, the Getting On Air, Online & Into Print guide, and more.

Our Studs: Chicago Journalists Remember Studs Terkel and the Media Awards

2014

Steve Bogira, Reporter & Blogger, Chicago Reader

Alejandro Escalona, Web Manager, Telemundo

Steve James, Producer, Kartemquin Films

Gordon Quinn, Producer, Kartemquin Films

Katie Kather, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

Fred & Nikki Will Stein, Uplifting Voices Award Winners

2013

Megan Cottrell, Reporter, Chicago Reporter

Fernando Diaz, Managing Editor, Hoy Chicago

Dave Hoekstra, Reporter, Chicago Sun-Times

Lorne Clarkson, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2012

Mick Dumke, Reporter, Chicago Reader

Maria Hinojosa, Anchor, PBS and Latino USA on National Public Radio

Chip Mitchell, Reporter, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio

Daniel Castro, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2011

Linda Lenz, Founder and Publisher, Catalyst Chicago

Kari Lydersen, Freelance Reporter

Antonio Olivo, Reporter, Chicago Tribune

Devin Katayama, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2010

Kate Grossman, Deputy Editorial Page Editor, Chicago Sun-Times

Natalie Moore, Public Affairs Reporter, Chicago Public Radio

Progress Illinois

Mitchell Wenkus, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2009

David Jackson, Chicago Tribune

Alden Loury, Editor and Publisher of The Chicago Reporter

Scott Simon, National Public Radio

Thom Clark, Community Media Workshop

Hsin Yin Sung, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2008

Tom McNamee, Chicago Sun Times

Radio Arte, 90.5 FM

Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune

Karla DiBenedetto, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2007

Mary Helt Gavin, Publisher of the Evanston Roundtable

Stephen Franklin, Labor and Workplace Reporter for The Chicago Tribune

WRTO 1200 AM, La Tremenda (Univision Radio Network)

Lilia Markarova, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2006

Mark Brown, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times

Renee Ferguson, reporter for WMAQ-TV/NBC5

Mary Johns and the Editorial Team at Residents’ Journal

Sean Patrick Fahey, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2005

Tracy Baim, Windy City Media

John Conroy, Chicago Reader

Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune

James Weinstein, In These Times

Angela Caputo, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2004

Alex Kotlowitz, Journalist and Author

Linda Lutton, Daily Southtown

Phil Ponce, Chicago Tonight, WTTW

Suree Towfighnia, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2003

Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune & WGN

Jorge Mota, Channel 44, Telemundo

Tom Weinberg, Image Union, WTTW

Geena Gintzig & Meghan Just, Studs Terkel Community Media Scholarship Winner

2002

Shirley Jahad, WBEZ-FM

Phil Kadner, Daily Southtown

Curtis Lawrence, Chicago Sun-Times

WVON-AM 1450

2001

Cornelia Grumman, Chicago Tribune

Martha Irvine, Associated Press

Salim Muwakkil, In These Times and Chicago Tribune

2000

Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times

Ira Glass, WBEZ

Teresa Puente, Chicago Tribune

1999

Jon Anderson, Chicago Tribune

John White, Chicago Sun-Times

Laura Washington, Chicago Reporter

Harry Porterfield, WLS Channel 7 News

1998

Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune

Ben Hollis, Wild Chicago

Chinta Strausberg, Chicago Daily Defender

1997

Don Terry, New York Times

Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times

John McDermott, The Chicago Reporter

1996

Ray Suarez, National Public Radio

Achy Obejas, Chicago Tribune

Carol Marin, NBC Channel 5 News

1995

Vernon Jarrett, Chicago Tribune and Sun Times

Charles Nicodemus, Chicago Sun-Times

Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader

1994

M. W. Newman, Chicago Daily News and Sun-Times

David Moberg, In These Times

Cheryl Corley, National Public Radio