Indiana Pro SPJ honors 2025 Best in Indiana Journalism

On April 17, 2026, the Indiana Pro SPJ chapter honored the best Indiana journalists from across the state at its annual awards banquet. Top honors went to journalists from The Indianapolis Star and Mirror Indy for Story of the Year and Journalist of the Year.

It was the second year the Indiana Pro SPJ Chapter awarded A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism honors. A panel of retired Indiana journalists with investigative experience awarded a collaboration between The Indianapolis Star and Mirror Indy the top prize. Second place went to a trio of journalists from WTHR. A collaboration between The Capital Chronicle and The Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism received the third place prize.

The Indiana Pro SPJ Chapter awarded the First Amendment Award to Ed Feigenbaum & Emily Ketterer of Hannah News Service-Midwest. Students with Purdue Exponent and Indiana Daily Student received the Indiana Journalism Courage Award for their commitment to independence, fairness and the truth after the Daily Student’s publication was threatened.

Two journalists were honored with the Slaymaker Service to Journalism Award for 2025. Cathy Knapp of WFIU and WTIU and Tim Evans of The Indianapolis Star both received the award for their decades of service to journalism.

Students from Indiana University, Franklin College, and Ball State University received the chapter’s 2026-27 scholarships.

You can read more about the top awards and see a full list of winners in the awards winners section.

How Are We Doing?

The Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists promotes the development of current and future journalists.

We welcome your comments on how we may improve our programming, contest, and banquet.

Questionnaire

Resources for Journalists Experiencing Layoffs

In light of recent layoffs and company consolidations, the Indiana Pro Chapter of SPJ compiled this list of resources to support journalists who have been laid off. 

Webinar: How Newsrooms Can Build Trust Through Transparency About AI Use

As journalists experiment with AI, audiences are paying attention and they have questions. New research from Trusting News shows that news consumers want to know how and when AI is used in the reporting process.

For the past year, Trusting News has partnered with newsrooms to test ways of being transparent about AI — from brief notes in story footers to detailed explainers and recurring editor’s notes. In a webinar in December, Lynn Walsh, Assistant Director of TrustingNews.org, shared what the organization has learned from both newsroom experiments and audience surveys, including which disclosure styles strengthened trust and which ones raised new questions.

You can watch the presentation here.

You’ll learn:

  • How different newsrooms are disclosing AI use in stories

  • What types of language make AI disclosures clearer and more trustworthy

  • How audiences responded to various AI use disclosures

  • Practical tips for developing or improving your newsroom’s AI transparency strategy

Indiana SPJ chapter hosting FREE Financial literacy program

Managing deadlines? We’ve got that.

Managing our money? Well, we may need some help with that.

Join us at noon, Nov. 11 on a Zoom as Zina Kumok, financial advisor and marketing manager for C.H. Douglas & Gray, provides insights and answers your questions. Please RSVP via the form below and join us for what’s sure to be a great conversation. This program is free and open to SPJ members and non-members.

VP candidates hosting listening sessions

Two candidates vying for the vice president role with the national SPJ board are hosting listening sessions for members.

Hear from Nicole DeCriscio, SPJ’s Region 5 coordinator and a national at-large director. Her sessions are as follows, complete with meeting links: 

Hear from Adam Sennott, president of the New England SPJ chapter. His session is as follows:

SPJ New England is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Adam Sennott Meet and Greet
Time: Sep 25, 2025 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83983237871

Meeting ID: 839 8323 7871


Investigative Reporting: Learn from Indiana's first A-Mark Prize winners

Learn from the winners of the first ever Best in Indiana Journalism A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism.

Indiana SPJ partnered with the A-Mark Foundation to offer cash prizes totaling $15,000 for journalists and news outlets to reward and promote topnotch journalists and encourage more to dig deeper into the stories impacting Indiana communities.

Indiana SPJ hosted this discussion with The A-Mark Foundation's Tracey DeFrancesco, Mirror Indy’s Emily Hopkins, Tyler Fenwick, and Jenna Watson, and IndyStar’s Hayleigh Colombo and James Briggs. 

You can watch that discussion on the Indiana Pro SPJ Chapter Facebook page.

A-Mark Foundation website: https://amarkfoundation.org/ 
A-Mark Prizes: https://amarkfoundation.org/a-mark-prizes/ 
Out of Options series: https://mirrorindy.org/out-of-options/ 
Sexual Harassment in Indiana Politics series: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2024/12/17/3-more-women-accuse-senate-minority-leader-greg-taylor-of-sexual-misconduct/77026311007/ 
Broken Housing series: https://mirrorindy.org/broken-housing/