Three columnists have been selected as finalists in the $1,000 annual Chicago Journalists Association Dorothy Storck Award, according to president Allen Rafalson. They include Rex Huppke (Chicago Tribune), Natasha Korecki (Politico) and online journalist Scott Jacobs (The Week Behind).
The contest was opened to columnists and radio and TV commentators living and working in Illinois and northwest Indiana. The journalists had to submit three columns published or aired during 2016. The work of each of these finalists will be reviewed and winner selected by the journalism faculty at Gaylord College of Mass Communications, University of Oklahoma, under the direction of professor John Schmeltzer.
Winner will be announced at a CJA event scheduled for either late summer or early fall.
The award is named after the former syndicated newspaper columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner who passed away in August 2015. Storck began her journalism career at the Chicago American, which later became known as Chicago Today. She ended her career at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She was also a U.S. Air Force squadron commander and held the rank of Major before becoming a journalist. She was also a member of our association. Her family and fiancé, University of Illinois at Chicago political professor Dick Simpson, established this award in her honor.