WGN-TV’s Lourdes Duarte to M.C. 80th Anniversary Awards Dinner
Chaz Ebert to Give Special Guest Tribute
(CHICAGO)— Chicago area columnists Natalie Moore, Barry Rozner and Mary Schmich have been named finalists for the Chicago Journalists Association’s $1,000 Dorothy Storck Award, the organization announced Monday.
Columns by the three were considered by Northwestern University judges the best of this year’s entries. Moore is a 12-year veteran of WBEZ-Radio who writes a monthly column for the Chicago Sun-Times. Rozner is a sports columnist and 32-year veteran of the Daily Herald. Schmich is a columnist and 34-year veteran of the Chicago Tribune.
Only one will take home the $1,000 prize at the 80th Anniversary Awards Dinner, being held on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, from 6:30-10:30PM, in the Plaza Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E. Wacker Dr.
Tickets available here: http://www.chicagojournalists.net/donations/
The award is named for the late syndicated newspaper columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner who passed in August 2015.
A longtime member of the 80-year-old CJA, Storck’s family and her fiancé, University of Illinois at Chicago Political Science Professor Dick Simpson, in 2017 established the annual award to honor a Chicago area Print, Broadcast or Digital columnist sharing Storck’s dedication, impact and commitment to craft.
Previous winners of the Dorothy Storck Award were Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Mark Brown in 2018 and Chicago Tribune columnist Rex Huppke in 2017.
This year’s Dorothy Storck Award, for best News or Features column published July 2018 to July 2019, will be presented at the awards dinner, where Chicago native and 12-time Emmy Award-winning ABC 7 Chicago Anchor/Reporter Cheryl Burton, who helms two of the #1 rated newscasts in Chicago, will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jim Kirk, Publisher/Executive Editor of Crain’s Chicago Business and respected veteran of Chicago journalism and publishing circles, will serve as keynote speaker.
Hosting the 80th anniversary event will be four-time Emmy Award winner Lourdes Duarte, Co-Anchor of WGN-TV’s evening news at 4 PM. Duarte, a 12-year veteran of WGN, previously co-anchored the top-rated WGN Morning News and reported for WGN News at Nine. Widely recognized for her volunteer work and engagement with Chicago’s minority communities, Duarte also hosts WGN’s public affairs program, “Adelante Chicago.”
Honored by DePaul University this year with the Distinguished Alumna Award for work that embodies the highest principles of journalism, Duarte started her journalism career as a reporter for Telemundo Chicago, going on to work in news markets throughout the country, including Miami, Indianapolis and Detroit before becoming one of WGN’s top investigative reporters.
Special guest Chaz Hammell-Smith Ebert, CEO of Ebert Digital LLC, will offer an “In Memoriam” tribute. The wife of the late famed movie critic Roger Ebert is publisher of the movie review site Rogerebert.com; produces television and movies, and heads the Ebertfest film festival, now in its 21st year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
A graduate of the Chicago Public Schools’ Crane High School and DePaulUniversity College of Law — both beneficiaries of Ebert scholarships — the civil rights attorney is president of the Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation; life trustee of the Art Institute, and member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Her work focuses on programs to help break the glass ceiling for women and people of color, and provide education and arts for women, children and families.
This year’s event is sponsored by American Airlines, Chicago Community Trust, McCormick Foundation, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Mary Ann Marsh/@ Properties, Matt Tierney/Guaranteed Rate, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Morris, DeSoto & State Communications, Inc., Hyatt Hotels and Ms. Linda Gerber.