CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER
MAY 14, 2026
Thank you for 31 years of support!!!
Dear Faithful Supporters of Local Media,
Through the years, we’ve witnessed the transformative power of truth telling and are pleased to gather, yet again, in the tradition of Studs Terkel!
It is always a pleasure celebrating the power of local media with you! Thank you for continued support of Public Narrative, the Studs Terkel Community Media Awards and the Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA)! It is an honor to convene and help cultivate relationships among storytellers committed to amplifying community voice.
Please know there’s a part for each of us to play in the sustaining of local media. No role is too small or too big to leave a lasting impression on the future of journalism. I hope you draw inspiration from tonight’s honorees and the bravery they’ve exuded in covering stories and issues that impact us all –directly and indirectly.
Jhmira Alexander President and CEO Public Narrative
5:30 p.m. OPENING RECEPTION
Music by FINDING IJEOMA
Hors d'oeuvres provided by The Sole Ingredient Catering Beverages provided by Drinks on Me Chicago
PROGRAM
Welcome and thank you for attending Public Narrative’s 31st Annual Community Media Awards
Sylvia Ewing, Vice President of Journalism and Media Engagement, Public Narrative
6:30 p.m. AWARDS CEREMONY
Thank you for supporting the Studs Terkel tradition!
Jhmira Alexander, President and Chief Executive Officer, Public Narrative
Our Master of Ceremony
Cheryl Corley, Midwest Bureau Chief, NPR
2026 Studs Terkel Community Media Award Winners
Ben Austen, Freelance Journalist
Alma Campos, Bilingual Investigative Journalist and Immigration Reporter at Chicago Public Media, Chicago Public Media
Gregory Royal Pratt, Reporter, Chicago Tribune
Jennifer Smith Richards, Reporter, ProPublica Illinois
Laura Rodriguez Presa, Reporter, Chicago Tribune
2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
Denise Zaccardi, Executive Director, Community TV Network
2026 Uplifting Voices Award Winner
Francia Garcia Hernandez, Reporter, Block Club Chicago
2026 Ripple Effect Award Winner
Block Club Chicago Newsroom
2026 Dr. Timuel D. Black, Jr. Award for Civic Engagement
Charles Preston, Injustice Watch
The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership
2026 People’s Choice Award Nominees
Sonja Henderson, Freelance Visual Artist
Elio Leturia, Freelance Visual/Multi-media Journalist
Jorge Mújica Murias, Campaign Organizer, Arise Chicago
Francia Garcia Hernandez, Bilingual Journalist, Block Club Chicago
Support Public Narrative: Stewards of the Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA)
Jhmira Alexander, President and Chief Executive Officer, Public Narrative
8:00 p.m. CLOSING SONG: Studs’ favorite – “This Land is Your Land”
Recorded by Lucy Smith
Ben Austen Freelance Journalist
Ben Austen is a journalist from Chicago. He is the author of Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change, which was named one of the top nonfiction works of 2023 by the Washington Post. His book High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing was named a best book of the year by Booklist and Mother Jones. A former editor at Harper’s Magazine, Ben teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Chicago. His feature stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, This American Life, GQ and many other publications. He is the writer and host of the narrative documentary podcasts The Parole Room and The Last Days of Cabrini-Green, and he is also co-host (with Khalil Gibran Muhammad) of the podcast Some of My Best Friends Are…. Ben’s work has earned him a Fulbright Fellowship, a National Headliner Award and a George Polk Award.
Alma Campos
Bilingual Investigative Journalist and Immigration Reporter at Chicago Public Media
Alma Campos is a bilingual investigative journalist and immigration reporter at Chicago Public Media, working across the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ. Her reporting focuses on immigration, enforcement, labor, public health, and the systems shaping immigrant life in Chicago. Previously, she served as immigration reporter and project editor at South Side Weekly. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Reveal, WTTW, Crain’s Chicago Business, and other outlets.
2026 STUDS TERKEL AWARD WINNERS
Gregory Royal Pratt
Reporter at the Chicago Tribune
Jennifer Smith Richards
Reporter at ProPublica Illinois
Gregory Royal Pratt is a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. Raised in Little Village, the proud son of Alicia Chavez, he was a key part of the newspaper’s Midway Blitz coverage. His reporting has exposed wrongful convictions, police misconduct and fraud. He is the author of “The City is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis.
Jennifer Smith Richards is a reporter for ProPublica. She began her journalism career writing obituaries in West Virginia, then covering small-town southern Ohio. She wrote about schools and education at newspapers in Huntington, West Virginia; Utica, New York; Savannah, Georgia, and Columbus, Ohio. She most recently worked for the Chicago Tribune, where her work exposed student ticketing at school, abusive educators, government misspending, sexual abuse in schools, lapses in police accountability and the mistreatment of students with disabilities. Her stories have prompted new state laws, the prosecution of school officials and the creation of child-protection units in school districts and state education departments.
Jennifer is a graduate of Ohio University and lives in Chicago.
Laura Rodriguez Presa
Reporter at the Chicago Tribune
Laura Rodríguez Presa is a senior journalist at the Chicago Tribune. She covers immigration, community, and culture, focusing on how immigration policy intersects with the human experience. Her reporting highlights the impact of laws and political decisions on immigrant communities, particularly Latino families in Chicago and beyond.
2026 UPLIFTING VOICES AWARD WINNER
Francia Garcia Hernandez Reporter at Block Club Chicago
Francia Garcia Hernandez is an award-winning reporter for Block Club Chicago. She covers Little Village, Pilsen and Back of the Yards. She is also one of Block Club’s lead immigration reporters, playing a key role in covering Operation Midway Blitz and its impact on immigrants and Chicagoans. Francia is originally from Mexico City, where she was born and raised. She has a bachelor’s degree from Universidad Anahuac Mexico Norte and an M.A. in Civic Media from Columbia College Chicago.
Block Club Chicago Newsroom
Block Club Chicago is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to delivering in-depth, original, daily coverage of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.
Their mission is to build community through quality, accurate reporting grounded in readers’ information needs. We aim to serve as a platform for community experiences, providing breaking news, investigative reporting and feature stories that highlight the people, places and events that make Chicago unique.
2026 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER
Denise Zaccardi Founder of Community
TV Network
Denise Zaccardi is the founder of the non-profit youth media organization, Community TV Network. Since 1974, using the first consumer video camera, she taught and then employed Video Instructors to teach Chicago young people from under-resourced neighborhoods to use a video camera to tell their own stories. As a media activist she worked on a number of organizing campaigns, including: setting up cable access TV, winning CPB funding for independent productions-ITVS and with groups promoting racial diversity in Chicago TV stations.
Block Club Chicago launched in 2018 with eight journalists and has since grown to a newsroom of 42 employees who have a deep understanding of our city and its neighborhoods. Their award-winning coverage enabled them to transform from a scrappy startup to one of the most-read news organizations in Chicago, publishing more than a dozen stories daily from every corner of our city. Block Club Chicago delivers hyperlocal coverage of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. Journalists don’t just parachute in for a story — they are on the ground daily in the communities they cover, allowing them to report with context, respect and deep knowledge of the issues neighbors care about most. They believe this ground-level approach builds trust and leads to a more accurate portrayal of Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Their website is read by 1.5 million unique readers each month, and their free daily newsletter and neighborhood newsletters reach more than 135,000 Chicagoans.
*Photos provided by Colin Boyle for Block Club Chicago
2026 DR. TIMUEL D. BLACK, JR. AWARD FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WINNERS
Charles Preston
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT MANAGER AT INJUSTICE WATCH
Charles Preston immerses himself in Cook County’s diverse communities to build relationships with community organizations, residents, and other stakeholders to properly understand information needs for impactful journalism. Before joining Injustice Watch in 2019, Charles reported on politics, activism, and community events for the Chicago Defender. His writing has been featured in In These Times, Chicago magazine, and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Coalition for Spiritual & Public Leadership NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) is a Catholic and Christian rooted community organizing coalition in the Chicago area of over 60 parishes, universities, and community organizations that labors to transform racial, economic, social and environmental systemic structures through grassroots coalition building, community organizing, and liberative formation. More at csplaction.org.
STAFF & CONSULTANTS
Jhmira Alexander, President and Chief Executive Officer
Sylvia Ewing, VP of Journalism and Media Engagement
Maleia Tbileh, Digital Engagement Manager
Erica Bell, Office Coordinator
Andrea Darling, Director of Operations
Demetrio Maguigad, Design Strategist
Bob Goldsborough, Media Guide Researcher
Dominique Griffin, CIMA Vision Planner
GRANTORS
The Chicago Community Trust
The Democracy Fund
The Field Foundation
The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The Lohengrin Foundation
The Polk Bros. Foundation
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Derrick Fleming, Jr., TGEL Enterprises
Sonya Ross, Boss Ross
Consulting and Black Women Unmuted
Jesús Del Toro, La Raza Chicago
Jeremi Bryant, Elevate
Jhmira Alexander, Public Narrative
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Cheryl Corley, Our Master of Ceremonies
FINDING IJEOMA, Our DJ for the Evening
Tafari Melisizwe, Our Photographer
Sulyiman Stokes, Our Photographer and Videographer
The Sole Ingredient Catering, Our Caterer
Drinks on Me Chicago, Our Bartender
Lucy Smith, CMA Contributor
Brandon Pope, CMA Contributor
Melba Lara, CMA Contributor Lou Hinkhouse, CMA Contributor
Adian Waldridge, CMA Contributor
Libra Davis, CMA Contributor
SPONSORS
Michael Burke and Robert Charles
Charles Whitaker
TERKEL AWARDS COMMITTEE
Alejandra Cancino
Kathy Chaney
Thom Clark
Jodi Cohen
John Conroy
Cheryl Corley
Maya Dukmasova
Bill Healy
Tonia Hill
Maudlyne Ihejirika
Mark Jacob
Britt Julious
Linda Lutton
Kari Lydersen
Josh McGhee
Steve Mills
Natalie Moore
Achy Obejas
Mauricio Peña
Darcell Rocket
Mary Schmich
Laura Washington
PAST WINNERS
2025
Alejandra Cancino
Tonia Hill
Mark Jacob
Andrew Patner
(Posthumously)
Maurico Peña
Maurice Bisaillon
Eman Abdelhadi
Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Chicago United for Equity
2024
Bill Healy
Joshua McGhee
Darcel Rockett
Irene Romulo
Jacoby Cochran
Na-Tae Thompson
Deanna McCleary
Borderless Magazine
Dr. Shaniqua Jones
2023
Carlos Ballesteros
Jodi Cohen
Melissa Sanchez
Tiffany Walden
Jamie Nesbitt Golden
Craig Dellimore
Sylvia Snowden
Jorge Martinez
2022
Bob Black
Maya Dukmasova
Jacqueline Serrato
María Inés Zamudio
Shermann “Dilla” Thomas
Michelle Duster
2021
Brandis Friedman
Michael Puente
Maureen O’Donnell
Karen Hawkins
Tonika Lewis-Johnson
Jamie Kalven
2019
Deborah Douglas
Britt Julious
Jerome McDonnell
Annie Sweeney
Jeff McCarter
Nikole Hannah-Jones 2018
Kathy Chaney
Michael Spencer Green
Dahleen Glanton
Odette Yousef
Kevin Coval 2017
Cate Cahan
Steve Mills
Carlos Javier Ortiz
Univision Chicago Newsroom
Terry Mazany 2016
Lolly Bowean
Sarah Karp
Richard Steele
Cecilia Vaisman
Aurie Pennick 2015
Maudlyne Ihejirika
Monica Eng
Sharon Cohen
Darryl Holliday & Illustrated Press
Adele Simmons 2014
Steve Bogira
Alejandro Escalona
Steve James
Gordon Quinn
Fred & Nikki Will Stein 2013
Megan Cottrell
Fernando Diaz
Dave Hoekstra 2012
Mick Dumke
Maria Hinojosa
Chip Mitchell
Linda Lenz Kari Lydersen
Antônio Olivo
Kate Grossman
Natalie Moore Progress Illinois
Thom Clark David Jackson
Alden Loury Scott Simon
Tom McNamee
Dawn Turner Trice WRTE 90.5FM Radio Arte 2007
Mary Helt Gavin
Stephen Franklin WRTO 1200 AM La Tremenda
Mark Brown
Mary C. Johns & The Editorial Staff of Residents’ Journal
Renee Ferguson
Tracy Baim
John Conroy
Mary Schmich
James Weinstein 2004
Alex Kotlowitz
Linda Lutton
Phil Ponce
2003
Rick Kogan
Jorge Mota
Tom Weinberg 2002
Shirley Jahad
Phil Kadner
Curtis Lawrence
WVON – AM 1450
Cornelia Grumman
Martha Irvine
Salim Muwakkil
Lee Bey Ira Glass
Teresa Puente 1999
Jon Anderson
Hank DeZutter
Harry Porterfield
Laura Washington
John White 1998
Ben Hollis
Chinta Strausberg
Eric Zorn 1997
John McDermott
Mary Mitchell
Don Terry
Carol Marin
Achy Obejas
Ray Suarez
Vernon Jarrett
Ben Joravsky
Charles Nicodemus
Cheryl Corley
David Moberg
M.W. Newman
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