Andrew Lam Receives Award From SPJ

The Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has released its 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards. Winners will be honored at a 6 p.m. awards dinner on November 10, 2009 at Jillian's restaurant in San Francisco.

Among the winners is Andrew Lam for Best Opinion. Andrew Lam is an editor for New America Media, the largest ethnic news organization in the country. He also is a commentator for National Public Radio and recently published his book - "Perfumed Dreams - The Reflection of Vietnamese Diaspora".

He receives the award for "Letter from Athens: Greek Tragedies and News Media in the Age of Twitter", "Our Man Obama: The Post-Imperial Presidency" and "How McCain Became MacBeth", the opinion pieces reflected a unique ability to portray contemporary events in a rich context by drawing on history, literature and philosophy.

Winners in other catogories include:

Journalist of the Year: Holly Kernan, KALW Public Radio
Career Achievement: Susan Sward, formerly of the San Francisco Chronicle
Distinguished Service to Journalism: Paul Kleyman, New America Media
Unsung Hero: Geoff Link, Central City Extra
John Gothberg Award for Meritorious Service to SPJ: Janet Mandelstam, freelance writer
The Economy: Charles Piller, Sacramento Bee
Public Service: Sean Webby, San Jose Mercury News
Breaking News
- Print (daily): The Oakland Tribune

- Broadcast: Steven Short, KALW-FM

Explanatory Journalism
- Print (daily): Nanette Asimov and Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle,

- Print (non-daily): Joe Eskenazi, SF Weekly,

- Broadcast: Craig Miller and the Quest Production Staff, KQED Public Media

- Online: MarketWatch, for "The Spiral of Deflation,"

Investigative Journalism- Print (daily): Sean Webby, San Jose Mercury News

The complete of winner is listed on

http://www.mediabistro.com/baynewser/bay_area_journos/diverse_winners_in_society_of_professional_journalists_awards_137004.asp