Chicago Journalists Association

CJA Names 2025 Dorothy Storck Award Finalists and Ceremony Emcee

CHICAGO — Chicago-based journalists Alma Campos, Brandis Friedman and Shia Kapos have been selected as finalists for the Chicago Journalists Association’s (CJA) $1,000 Dorothy Storck Award, the organization announced Monday.

Their work was considered the best of this year’s entries by judges affiliated with SUNY Old Westbury, a university on Long Island, New York. Campos is being recognized for work with South Side Weekly and MindSite News, while Friedman is being recognized for work with WTTW and Kapos for work in POLITICO. 

Only one will take home the $1,000 prize at CJA’s 86th Anniversary Awards Ceremony on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 6:30-9:30PM, in Ruggles Hall of the Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St. Tickets are $100 for non-journalists and $85 for journalists and can be purchased online via Eventbrite.

Unlike other award competitions, the Dorothy Storck Award is unique in annually honoring two second-place winners, as the work of these journalists is too critical not to be recognized for their impact.

Named for Dorothy Storck, the late syndicated newspaper columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner who passed away in August 2015, the monetary prize traditionally honored the best of the best in commentary/op-ed. The family of the longtime CJA member and her partner, former University of Illinois at Chicago political science professor Dick Simpson, established the annual award in 2017 to honor a columnist sharing Storck’s dedication, impact and commitment to craft. 

CJA revised the contest to honor the best work produced by a woman, trans, femme or nonbinary (WTFNB) journalist in the Chicagoland area. This focus further highlights Storck as a trailblazer, serving as a U.S. Air Force squadron commander and holding the rank of major before becoming a journalist. 

Previous grand prize winners include:

  • Nell Salzman, Chicago Tribune (2024)
  • Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica (2023)
  • Ismael Pérez, Chicago Sun-Times (2022)
  • Deborah Douglas, The Emancipator (2021)
  • Dahleen Glanton, Chicago Tribune (2020)
  • Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune (2019)
  • Mark Brown, Chicago Sun-Times (2018)
  • Rex Huppke, Chicago Tribune (2017)

Past second place award winners include:

  • Stacy St. Clair, Chicago Tribune and Michele Weldon, AARP and West Suburban Living magazine (2024)
  • Maya Dukmasova, Injustice Watch and Sylvia Snowden, CAN TV (2023)
  • Rummana Hussain and Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times (2022)
  • John W. Fountain and Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times (2021)
  • Burt Constable, The Daily Herald and Laura Washington, ABC 7 Chicago/Chicago Sun-Times (2020)
  • Barry Rozner, The Daily Herald and Natalie Moore, WBEZ Radio (2019)
  • Mick Dumke, ProPublica Illinois and Deborah Douglas, The Chicago Reporter (2018)
  • Natasha Korecki, POLITICO and Scott Jacobs, The Week Behind (2017)

Hosting the 86th annual event will be Mike Lowe, a general assignment reporter for WGN-TV. He was named CJA’s 2024 Chicago Journalist of the Year, not only for his range of work telling Chicagoans’ stories, but also his ability to use his journalistic voice to educate and inspire others about his journey battling Stage 3 colon cancer last year.

Lowe is a 39-time Emmy winner, a 128-time Emmy nominee, a five-time regional Edward R. Murrow award winner and a national Walter Cronkite award winner. He is also the winner of the prestigious Newton Minow Fellowship, named for the nation’s first FCC chairman, and the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship.

The awards ceremony will also honor longtime CBS News Chicago journalist Jim Williams with this year’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Jake Wittich, managing editor of Windy City Times, will be recognized as Chicago Journalist of the Year.

Williams’ journalism career spans nearly five decades, most of which he spent at CBS News Chicago as a reporter and co-anchor of the 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekday newscasts. Wittich has revitalized the digital strategy for the Windy City Times, Chicago’s legacy LGBTQ+ news outlet, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. He also regularly contributes in-depth reporting on Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community and serves as president of the Chicago chapter of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists.

Headlining the Nov. 14 ceremony will be keynote speaker Tracy Baim, executive director of Press Forward Chicago. Baim has worked in community media since 1984 and co-founded Windy City Times in 1985. Prior to joining Press Forward Chicago, she served as publisher of the Chicago Reader, where she led the publication’s shift to a nonprofit business model to broaden its revenue sources. She has won numerous LGBTQ+ and journalism awards, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from CJA (2022) and the Chicago Headline Club (2013).

Also being honored are 19 winners of the Sarah Brown Boyden Awards, selected as the best work this year in categories that range from arts and features to investigations, photography and sports. One of those 19 winners will take home a $500 prize awarded to the best of the best. Finalists will be announced next week.

DOROTHY STORCK AWARD FINALISTS

Alma Campos

Alma Campos is a bilingual investigative journalist and editor based in Chicago. As lead reporter and project editor on immigration at South Side Weekly, she tells the human stories behind immigration policy and its consequences — reporting from within the communities most affected and centering the experiences of those she covers. 

Her reporting has examined ICE raids, data-sharing loopholes and the human impact of deportation, power and survival in Chicago. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, MindSite News, Univision Chicago and others.

Brandis Friedman

Brandis Friedman is the Alexandra and John Nichole chief correspondent and anchor of “Chicago Tonight” on Chicago’s PBS affiliate, WTTW. She joined the newsroom as a correspondent in 2013. Since then, her reporting on education and criminal justice has appeared on PBS’ “NewsHour” and NPR’s “The Takeaway.” 

Friedman has also worked as a reporter and anchor for WBBM Newsradio 780 and as a producer/reporter for WJLA-TV/ABC-7 in Washington, D.C. In addition to earning multiple regional Emmy Awards for her work, she has earned multiple Peter Lisagor Awards, recognizing excellence in journalism, from the Chicago Headline Club.

Originally from Mississippi, Friedman’s work has taken her to numerous cities including Kansas City, Missouri, Little Rock, Arkansas and Wichita Falls, Texas. She is a graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans, where she earned a degree in mass communications, and Columbia University in New York City, where she earned her Master’s degree in journalism. 

Shia Kapos

Shia Kapos is a reporter for POLITICO and author of POLITICO’s Illinois Playbook, a morning newsletter for influencers in Illinois government and politics. Prior to joining POLITICO, she wrote the popular Taking Names column for the Chicago Sun-Times (and before that Crain’s Business). She’s also had stints at Dealreporter and the Salt Lake Tribune. 

Kapos’ career has been built on breaking news and landing sit-down interviews with notable names and personalities. She’s covered billionaires on the rise and lawmakers’ precipitous falls — and all the terrain in between.

For tickets: https://bit.ly/cjaawards2025

For more information: chicagocja@gmail.com or 773-789-9488.