Monday, May 07, 2007 5:25 PM
Awards List for Press Club Bash
spring/summer 07 vol.59 no.2
Top awards to acclaimed PBS special correspondent eration Next: Speak Up.” The project included an hour-long Judy Woodruff, controversial “Ask a Mexican” colum- documentary on the next generation that aired on PBS in Janu- nist Gustavo Arellano and in memory of slain Russian ary. She is also known for her years at CNN.
journalist Anna Politkovskaya will highlight the club’s 49th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards on Saturday, June 16.
Woodruff will be presented with the Joseph M. Quinn Award for her lifetime of work. The late Anna Politkovskaya, whose tough stories led to her murder, will be awarded the Daniel Pearl Award for journalistic heroism in a special trib- ute. And stereotype-bashing Arellano, one of the most talked- about Southland journalists, will receive the President’s Award at the Millennium Biltmore gala.
Tickets are still available. Buy them now and get a dis- count—prices go up on June 8th.
“We’re on track for one of the most successful awards din- ners ever,” says club Executive Director Diana Ljungaeus. “Be- tween Woodruff and Arellano, we’ll be celebrating journalism of every stripe this year. You won’t want to miss it!”
Woodruff has been reporting and producing a project with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions on American youth called “Gen-
The most recent addition to the dinner, Arellano pens “Ask a Mexican” in OC Weekly as a headlong run at stereotypes of Latinos. He doubles as the alternative weekly’s food critic.
Though the questions that Arellano poses and answers of- ten are blatantly racist, bizarre, and even sexual in nature, he sees himself as on a mission to dispel myths—and he takes no prisoners.
“I’ve never regretted anything I’ve ever said. Regret is one of the worst emotions you can inflict on yourself,” he says. “If you’re not prepared to deal with that, then you shouldn’t write.”
Politkovskaya was chosen in consultation with the Pearl family. Her posthumous award will be accepted by her news- paper, Novaya Gazeta. “We feel very good about this choice and are pleased that Anna Politkovskaya’s editor will come to Los Angeles,” says Ruth Pearl, mother of Daniel Pearl. Known to her friends as Anya, Politkovskaya wrote about human rights and political controversies with courage.
