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The David Stolberg Meritorious Service Award recognizes an SEJ member for their exceptional volunteer work. Nominees may not be a board member or anyone who is paid by SEJ.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of this organization. Member-volunteers organize tours and panels for the conference, implement the awards program, contribute to the SEJournal, serve as mentors and sit on any number of committees. This conference could not happen and SEJ could not be successful without our members lending their time and sweat in selfless service as volunteers.
This annual award honors exceptional volunteer work by an SEJ member. It was created by the SEJ board in 1998 and named in honor of one of SEJ's founders, David Stolberg.
The 2021 Stolberg award goes to Gloria Gonzalez for her many years of service on the Audit Committee since 2012. Perhaps SEJ's least glamorous volunteer job, the Audit Committee is also perhaps the most essential, as it combines both accounting and accountability.
Gloria's leadership of the audit committee brought a renewed focus and insight to the audit process and redefined what an audit should be about. There were thorny legal issues which had developed over the years which we had not known about or addressed. This left us with potential liabilities we were unprepared to face. Gloria raised a number of issues which we then looked into.
Gloria led the effort to identify and secure a new auditor for SEJ after many years with our previous firm. She took the lead in drafting the RFP, reviewing proposals, and ranking and recommending the top candidate who eventually became the new SEJ auditor.
Thank you, Gloria. SEJ owes you a big debt of gratitude for your dedication, knowledge and service and helping to position SEJ for growth in the next 30 years.
This annual award honors exceptional volunteer work by an SEJ member. It was created by the SEJ board in 1998 and named in honor of SEJ founder David Stolberg. Nominees may not be a board member or anyone who is paid by SEJ.
Much of SEJ's best work is accomplished by member-volunteers: tour and panel organizers for the conference, awards program leaders, contributors to SEJournal, SEJ-talk and www.sej.org, freedom-of-information watchdogs, mentors, and leaders in diversity outreach. Volunteers define the heart and soul of SEJ, and they expand the group's reach and significance in ways that are not easily measured.
David Stolberg had a 38-year career with Scripps Howard that included duties for the Scripps Howard Foundation's annual Meeman Awards for excellence in environmental reporting. Stolberg always believed in "the value of networking, of the subliminal training that comes from an association with one's peers." In the 1980s, when Stolberg was assistant general editorial manager of Scripps Howard, he came up with the SEJ idea and kept suggesting it to Meeman winners until he found one who was willing to put in the volunteer time to organize with other journalists and make something happen. That person was SEJ's founding president, Jim Detjen.
Stolberg died May 24, 2011 at age 83.
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