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SYRACUSE PRESS CLUB

Established in 1951

Apply to our annual awards contest!

SPC’s Annual Professional Recognition Awards Contest is open for entries. For 40 years, Central New York journalists have submitted their best work in TV, radio, print, online and college news to our contest. Each spring, the club recognizes reporters, editors and photographers from across the region at a celebration held in Syracuse.

Who we are

The Syracuse Press Club was founded in 1951. Its members are journalists, educators, students and communications professionals working in local Central New York print, radio, television and digital media.

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Syracuse Press Club announces 2022-2023 award winners

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May 7, 2023

(Andy Wolf of CNYCentral / WSTM/WTVH, photo by Herm Card) Central and northern New York newsrooms gathered under one roof to celebrate the best of local journalism at the 2023 …

Alexandra Elkins selected for SPC Devesty-Williams Scholarship

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April 24, 2023

The Syracuse Press Club board is proud to announce the 2023 winner of our prestigious $2,000 Devesty-Williams Scholarship. Congratulations to Alexandra Elkins of Liverpool, N.Y.! Allie plans to becomes a …

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Syracuse Press Club

2 months ago

Syracuse Press Club is proud to announce the winners of its 2023 A. Brohmann Roth Newcomer Award, based on stellar work by a young reporter or reporters in 2022.Congratulations to Rylee Kirk and Anne Hayes, both crime and public safety reporters at syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. They were selected from a group of talented new journalists in Central New York.SPC’s A. Brohmann Roth Newcomer Award is given to outstanding young journalists in the first years of their career. The award recognizes hard work, promising potential and raw talent. Candidates must be in their first three years of employment.Rylee Kirk joined Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard in October 2021 after graduating with a master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in Arizona.She is originally from Skaneateles, New York, and moved to just outside Savannah, Georgia at a young age. Since returning to the 315, she has worked as a crime and public safety reporter. She has investigated the systematic failure of the child protective system in Oswego County, even traveling to Virginia to speak with a survivor.Frequently she profiles crime victims, including tracking down the family of a Yemeni refugee killed in 2021 to write about him.After high school she graduated from Mercer University with a journalism degree. While at Mercer, she reported on the campus community, local community, and was part of a reporting trip to Peru.At the Cronkite school, she worked on a capstone investigation entitled “Little Victims Everywhere,” which revealed the federal government’s inaction on child sex abuse cases in Indian Country. The project won the Shaufler Prize.In the future, she hopes to continue covering important topics and help people share their stories.Anne Hayes joined Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard in June 2021 as a crime and public safety reporter. She has covered the high profile Robert Neulander trial and the 2023 Onondaga County Sheriff election and the closure of the Jamesville Correctional Facility. She also breaks news that is syndicated by national outlets, including the death of Liam Suave and the arrest warrant issued for Mets player Khalil Lee. Hayes, 23, is originally from Avon, Connecticut. Syracuse became a second home during her time as an undergraduate at Syracuse University. She graduated in the last class of Online and Newspaper Journalism majors from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. She also received a degree in Political Science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. While at school, Hayes covered the ongoing #NotAgainSU protests and won The College Media Associations Pinnacle award for Best Breaking News Coverage 2020.Hayes hopes to continue covering law and politics in Syracuse and the surrounding region. She is grateful to be recognized as one of many exceptional young journalists that have joined Central New York news outlets in recent years.Congratulations to Rylee and Annie! We look forward to presenting you both with the Newcomer Award at the SPC Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 6, 2023.syracusepressclub.org/news/rylee-kirk-anne-hayes-win-2022-newcomer-awards-by-syracuse-press-club/ … See MoreSee Less

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Syracuse Press Club

2 months ago

SPC is delighted to share Brad Vivacqua of Spectrum News 1 and Josh Cradduck of NBC News will host the Syracuse Press Club Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 6!Brad Vivacqua is a longtime reporter at Spectrum News 1 in Syracuse. He’s an award-winning journalist who has been in the Central New York TV market for 19 years. While he’s covered everything from breaking news to features, he has also worked on a number of special projects that include helping senior citizens, profiling great dishes at local restaurants, and high school football profiles. He also loves local events and is sometimes referred to as a “human calendar” as he is great at keeping track of dates for preview stories. Brad keeps a log of every story he does while he also loves the spontaneity of presenting a smooth live shot without much time to prepare. Brad has a positive connection with the community while he’s a personable guy who loves to lift people up. He wears many hats at Spectrum News and can often be found doing sports segments or filling in on the anchor desk. As a reporter, he’s been able to travel to a few dozen sites across the country following fans to big Syracuse University tournament and bowl games. Some of his favorite memories include his coverage of the Papal visit in Philadelphia PA (2015) and two Final Fours in Atlanta, GA (2013) and Houston, TX (2016). Brad is a 2004 graduate of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University where he occasionally serves as an adjunct instructor. The CNY native from Frankfort, N.Y. loves to volunteer with local organizations and serves as an emcee at many charity and school events. He’s an avid runner and current member of the Lake Effect Run Club and Syracuse Track Club. He’s competed in half marathons all over the country and has 23 Utica Boilermaker Road Races under his belt. Josh Cradduck is an Emmy-winning senior assignment editor for NBC News, based at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. In this role, he primarily coordinates news gathering with the Today Show, along with MSNBC and streaming platform NBC News Now. Josh recently won a National Emmy as part of the network’s team coverage of January 6th. He was previously the assignment manager for Spectrum News in Syracuse, where he worked for 12 years. Josh helped the station cover everything from the Erin Maxwell investigation to the deadly Richland fire; from the American Civic Association mass shooting to the Bernie Fine scandal and every election night, blizzard, flood or fire in between. He also served as the station’s NYS Fair planning coordinator for nearly a decade. Josh was proud to miss just one day of work during that 12 year span (much to the chagrin of Bill Carey). During his time in Central New York, Josh served on the Syracuse Press Club board of directors for a decade, becoming president in 2013 and serving six consecutive terms until 2019. He coordinated the planning of seven award banquets. Josh is a 2008 graduate of the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and is a 2019 graduate of Leadership Greater Syracuse. We are so grateful to Josh and Brad for leading the SPC award ceremonies in May! Planning to attend? Be sure to get your dinner tickets before April 15: syracusepressclub.org/dinner-tickets/ … See MoreSee Less

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Syracuse Press Club

2 months ago

The Syracuse Press Club is pleased to announce the winner of our prestigious 2023 Bill Carey Award for Journalist of the Year. Iris St. Meran, a news reporter at NewsChannel 9, stood out among her peers for tremendous contributions to news coverage in 2022. Iris has dedicated 15 years of her career to the Central New York community. Prior to NewsChannel 9, Iris worked at Spectrum News 1 Central New York/S Tier in Syracuse and Utica for more than a decade as an award-winning multimedia journalist and anchor. There, she had the honor of working with and learning from Bill Carey every day.Bill taught her how to be fair, ask the tough questions and tell a good story. She will always remember his sense of humor and how he always made time to offer advice to young journalists.Iris is known for her fair, impactful and compassionate storytelling. From her half-hour special honoring Black history in CNY, to her stories addressing mental health in schools, Iris produced an impressive body of work in 2022 demonstrating journalistic excellence, professionalism and a deep understanding of the Syracuse community. Hailing from Boston, she affectionately now calls Syracuse her second home. Over the years, she’s created special connections with Central New Yorkers by sharing their stories and volunteering her time to help make the region a better place.Iris got her start in news at New England Cable News (NECN) in Boston where she worked as a desk assistant and web producer. She graduated from Emerson College with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and minors in marketing and music.Last year, Iris was recognized as one of CNY Business Journal’s 40 Under Forty honorees. She also serves as a board member of the YMCA of Central New York and The Gifford Foundation.In his nomination of Iris, Tom Walters of Onondaga County Libraries wrote:"Iris is extremely well-rounded in her journalistic approach. Unlike others who excel in one type of field (spot news, political work or human-interest features), Iris has a stronghold on simply telling great stories about people. This year, she evolved even more by being the executive producer and host for the special 30-minute program ‘Honoring Black History.’ She can fill in for an anchor at the drop of a hat. She does great work out in the field for her day-to-day stories. She is warm and caring to the people she reports on and to her fellow co-workers.She has actually learned from Bill Carey himself. Iris worked with him every day, and it was a relationship of mutual respect. He helped hone her skills at the very beginning of her career and it shows in the quality of her work. I know for a fact that Bill was very proud of the journalist that she had become."Congratulations Iris! We look forward to celebrating your hard work at the SPC banquet on May 6, 2023. syracusepressclub.org/news/iris-st-meran-of-newschannel-9-named-2023-journalist-of-the-year/ … See MoreSee Less

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Syracuse Press Club

2 months ago

We’re excited to announce the first of our SPC special honors:Congratulations to Jeff Wernick, PIO of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, for winning Syracuse Press Club’s 2023 Transparency Award! This award honors those who provide access, information and insight to journalists covering stories important to Central New York citizens.Jeff Wernick worked in the the news business for 25 years before joining the NYS DEC as a public information officer in April 2020. In his role at the DEC, Jeff handles media inquiries from across the state on topics that range from the Brownfield Cleanup Program, to deer hunting season, to invasive species prevention efforts. Jeff also organizes press conferences, writes press releases, travels with DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos, and provides content for DEC’s social media pages. He writes the “Forest Ranger Week in Review,” highlighting the efforts of forest rangers during difficult rescues and wildland fires.In her nomination of Jeff Wernick for the Transparency Award, CNYCentral.com Assistant News Director Kaitlyn Serrao wrote:“Sometimes it can feel like we are in a battle with public information officers to get information on stories. Jeff Wernick is someone who not only provides interesting stories, but makes them easier than ever to absorb and share with the public. Wernick comes from a news background, so he often provides logged interviews, great video, and excellent background for his stories he is pitching.”Thank you, Jeff, for setting a stellar example for news sources and public information experts across Central New York. SPC will present Jeff Wernick with the Transparency Award at our banquet on Saturday, May 6, 2023.Read more about Jeff Wernick here: syracusepressclub.org/news/jeff-wernick-wins-2023-transparency-award-from-syracuse-press-club/ … See MoreSee Less

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Syracuse Press Club

5 months ago

The 2023 Syracuse Press Club Awards competition is NOW OPEN. Good luck to all!Active SPC members, you can submit your best work from 2022 in any of these categories: syracusepressclub.org/categories/The #SPCawards banquet returns on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at the Collegian Hotel & Suites. Mark your calendars! … See MoreSee Less

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Join Us

The Syracuse Press Club invites all working and inactive journalists to become members of the club. Your membership fee supports our annual banquet, journalism scholarship and events throughout the year. Click below for more information and to join today!

Wall of Distinction

The Wall of Distinction is where outstanding journalists in Central New York are permanently enshrined. Located in the theater lobby of the John H. Mulroy Civic Center in downtown Syracuse, the first group of inductees was first installed to the Wall on Dec. 4, 2000. This was also the date the Syracuse Press Club’s 50^th anniversary was observed.