Distinguished? If They Only Knew!

Sometimes, you're going about your business thinking, "Hey, this is cool. I did a pretty good job there!" But, you think no one but you really notices. I'm here to tell you that, occasionally, they do!

I've never been the kind of person to win awards or get recognized for excellence of any kind. In fact, I've prided myself in a living a life of mediocrity and flying below the radar! So it was with great surprise and honor that I learned that the Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists had selected me as the 2009 Distinguished Journalist of the Year.

On Tuesday, April 27, my colleagues, family and I attended the awards banquet. Here are a few pictures from the evening. What follows is a copy of the article the Daily Breeze ran upon the announcement of the award.

I selected Assistant City Editor Josh Grossberg to introduce me. He did a great job with a heartfelt and warm speech:

The organizers of the event made a point to REPEATEDLY tell the honorees, "No speeches." Apparently, journalists don't like to be told to shut up. The honorees who received their awards before me launched into several minutes of platitudes each. I kept it short with a few "thank yous."
The keynote speaker for the night was Roxana Saberi, a journalist who wrote a book about her experience of being imprisoned in Iran. She was lovely, spirited and interesting. My sister bought me a copy of her book and had it signed, and I can't wait to read it,:



Daily Breeze reporter Nix honored with Distinguished Journalist Award
By Larry Altman Staff Writer
Posted: 02/03/2010 02:28:06 PM PST

The Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has honored Daily Breeze staff writer Denise Nix with a Distinguished Journalist Award.

Nix is the 2009 honoree for newspapers with less than 100,000 circulation. The award established in 1976 honors print, broadcast and now online journalists who "demonstrate good news judgment, a strong sense of ethics and a passion for getting the story right."

Honorees are journalists who have amassed a strong body of work for several years.

"At a time when newspapers are shrinking and journalists are constantly being challenged to protect the integrity and purpose of the profession, it's nice that the hard work and local reporting that I and my colleagues at the Daily Breeze do everyday is appreciated," Nix said.

"I'd like to thank the SPJ board for this honor and my colleagues, past and present, for their support and encouragement over the years."

During her 15-year career, Nix has worked at the Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Associated Press and Daily Breeze, primarily covering the law, both civil and criminal. She has worked as the Daily Breeze's court reporter since 2001.

Nix also contributes to the Daily Breeze's Crime & Courts blog and maintains an online court tracker.

"The kinds of stories Denise writes help bring closure," Daily Breeze Editor Toni Sciacqua said.

"When we write about a crime, we usually know what happened, but sometimes we don't know how or why.

"That's the kind of detail that comes out in a courtroom. Denise puts it all together for us. Sometimes she has to track a story for years, from the arrest to the final verdict, to get the whole picture."

A graduate of California State University, San Francisco, Nix lives in the South Bay with her husband, Kevin, and two sons.

The other honorees are KCBS/KCAL reporter Dave Lopez for television; KNX reporter Claudia Peschiutta for radio; Los Angeles Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein for print journalism with a circulation more than 100,000; and WitnessLA.com editor Celeste Fremon for new media.
An award dinner will be held in April.

Previous Daily Breeze employees honored with the Distinguished Journalist Award are columnist John Bogert in 1997, former Managing Editor Jean Adelsman in 2001, and reporter Larry Altman in 2006. Former Copley News Service correspondent David Zahniser won in 2005.