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Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists Pro Chapter announces 2024 award recipients

TULSA, OKLA., Oct. 30, 2024– The Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists Pro Chapter has announced its 2024 award winners. The recipients are recognized for published work in television, radio, print, and public relations in 2023. For this year’s contest, journalists entered 60 categories.

A reception will be held from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8 at Rococo, 4308 N. Western Ave., in Oklahoma City for award recipients to pick up awards and certificates.

The annual awards program is an opportunity to pay tribute to journalism professionals who are covering the leading news stories in the state. All member journalists are eligible to participate in the contest. The judges are selected from an out-of-state journalism organization. This year’s judges were affiliated with the Cincinnati Society of Professional Journalists.

In addition to the awardees, the OKSPJ honored three individuals for their services to the journalism profession. The honorees are the following: 

Clytie Bunyan – Frank Greer Lifetime Achievement Award. Bunyan is managing editor for Opinion and Community Engagement at The Oklahoman newspaper. She has been a journalist in Oklahoma for 36 years. She was the first woman to lead its business news department and served as business editor, the longest in the newspaper’s history. Her responsibilities expanded to being editor of the health, common education, and city hall beats. Currently, she manages the Viewpoints section, providing a platform for community engagement. A member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, Bunyan also serves on the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation's board. Originally from Tobago, she holds a journalism degree from the University of Central Oklahoma.

Dylan Brown – Carter Bradley First Amendment Award. Brown is a KFOR Channel 4 (NBC) weekend anchor and reporter. He previously was an anchor in Redding, Calif., where he covered major wildfires. Brown and KFOR photojournalists Kevin Josefy and Gage Shaw have filed a federal lawsuit against Oklahoma state officials, alleging First Amendment violations. The lawsuit claims KFOR journalists were barred from State Board of Education meetings and news conferences with Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, despite having press credentials, while other media were admitted. Filed in Oklahoma City federal court, the case seeks equal press access and challenges alleged selective media exclusion based on viewpoint discrimination. He is a graduate of Yukon High School and University of Central Oklahoma broadcast journalism graduate.

Joe Hight – Teacher of the Year. Hight holds the Edith Kinney Gaylord Endowed Chair of Journalism Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma. He teaches Media Ethics, Media Conference Leadership, Database Investigative Journalism and Media Writing at UCO. As former editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper, he led its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of veterans with PTSD. Co-founder of the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma, Hight has championed trauma-informed reporting and ethics, authoring resources still in use today. He owns Best of Books in Edmond and writes the “Oklahoma Joe” column for The Journal Record newspaper. His nonfiction work, "Unnecessary Sorrow," explores his brother’s life and death. He’s working on The Trauma Journey project with the Dart Center. Hight is an Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame inductee.

“This year’s award recipients are the best of the best in the state’s journalism profession. We celebrate the accomplishments and achievements of our colleagues – journalists, educators, and students – who devote countless hours to produced news for the readers, viewers, and listeners in Oklahoma and beyond every day. We believe that the results of their work contribute to a more informed electorate, a prerequisite of a democratic society,” said Dr. Jerry Goodwin, president of OKSPJ.

The complete list of 2024 OKSPJ awardees is available as a PDF file for downloading at https://okspj.com/.

For more information, contact Dr. Jerry Goodwin, Oklahoma SPJ president, at jerry.goodwin@tulsacc.edu.

Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists Pro Chapter

The Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists Professional Chapter supports working journalists across the state. The OKSPC chapter is governed by a board of directors. The chapter is part of the national Society of Professional Journalists. Membership supports local and national journalism efforts. For more information, visit https://okspj.com/

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Ten longtime journalists, a prominent First Amendment attorney and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient were honored this year at the 54th annual luncheon and induction ceremony of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony was held at the Nigh University Center at the University of Central Oklahoma.

“The seven men and five women being honored this year represents the best in journalism from a number of different areas and in their service to journalism,” said Director Joe Hight, who is also UCO’s Edith Kinney Gaylord Endowed Chair of Journalism Ethics and a OJHOF member since 2013. “The decisions become harder every year because of the quality of journalists and individuals who have served Oklahoma and this country.”

The 2024 induction class will be Mary Cecile Carter, a longtime editor whose work included a Pulitzer Prize-winning project; Richard M. Crum, a journalist and educator who was a longtime National Geographic reporter and editor; Galen Culver, who originated the broadcast franchise “Is This a Great State or What!” on KFOR-TV; Tom Gilbert, a pioneering photojournalist at the Tulsa World; Dr. Mark Hanebutt, a journalist, lawyer, author, longtime educator and a member of the Oklahoma SPJ board of directors; Blaise Labbe, the first Black news director in Oklahoma City and Kansas City; Anne Nelson, a war correspondent, author, playwright and former director for the Committee to Protect Journalists; Penny Owen, a longtime reporter for The Oklahoman and past president of the international Dart Society; John Perry, national award-winning database editor in Oklahoma and Georgia; and Christy Brunken Wheeland, a longtime community reporter and editor in northeastern Oklahoma.

The 2024 Lifetime Achievement honorees will be Suzan Shown Harjo, a 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient whose lifetime of work includes being a pioneering Native American journalist and founding trustee for the Smithsonian National Museum for the American Indian; and Robert D. Nelon, an attorney who has represented numerous media organizations and journalists on First Amendment and freedom of information issues.

All 12 honorees will become members of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, which now has inducted 500 members since its beginning.

They were chosen from among more than 90 nominations submitted to the hall of fame. They were first selected by a 15-member Finalist Committee and then a 12-member Selection Committee via a balloting process. All on the committees were hall of fame members and representatives of diverse types of media and journalism organizations.

The Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame was founded in 1971 by former UCO Journalism Chair Dr. Ray Tassin and Dennie Hall, with both serving as directors. Hight is the fourth director and succeeded Dr. Terry Clark. All members are featured on the hall of fame website. Past honoree plaques are on display at the hall of fame gallery on the third floor of UCO’s Nigh University Center.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press announced that Denver Nicks has been named the Local Legal Initiative attorney for Oklahoma. He succeeds Kathryn Gardner.

The Local Legal Initiative provides local news organizations with the direct legal services they need to pursue enterprise and investigative stories in their communities.

Nicks was most recently an associate attorney at Barnes Law in Tulsa, and before that a longtime journalist. He holds a J.D. from Tulane University Law School.

Since its launch in 2020, the Oklahoma Local Legal Initiative has had a significant impact on government transparency and accountability. Earlier this year, for example, Reporters Committee attorneys successfully sued the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Kevin Clardy on behalf of the McCurtain Gazette for records related to the death of a Choctaw Nation citizen following a violent encounter with local law enforcement. The lawsuit resulted in the release of bodycam footage and other requested records; it was also featured in a New Yorker story about the McCurtain Gazette’s efforts to investigate the local sheriff’s office.

“Over the last five decades, the Reporters Committee has shown how legal support makes a meaningful difference in empowering journalists to pursue the kinds of reporting that informs communities, inspires accountability, and underpins our democracy,” said Bruce D. Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Also joining RCFP are attorneys Mara Gassman and Elizabeth Soja. Reporting to RCFP Deputy Executive Director and Legal Director Katie Townsend, Gassmann will lead the organization’s robust amicus practice. Townsend welcomed the three new members to RCFP’s growing legal team.

“Their experience and passion for this important work will help us continue to meet the clear and pressing legal needs of journalists and newsrooms across the country, particularly those in local communities,” Townsend said.

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