(Correction: The original version of this post contained an incorrect age for Ann Gerber. I regret the error and apologize for the mistake.)
The 29 photographers who were fired by the Sun-Times last spring will be honored as Chicago Journalists of the Year by the Chicago Journalists Association.
The group also will present longtime Chicago gossip columnist Ann Gerber with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its 74th annual awards dinner Sept. 27.
In a move that was widely condemned, Wrapports LLC, parent company of the Sun-Times and its sister publications, laid off its entire photography department on May 30. Senior among them was Pulitzer Prize winner John H. White, a 44-year veteran of the paper. Sun-Times reporters were directed to begin mandatory training on "iPhone photography basics."
The 28 photographers and photo editors laid off in May were: Steve Buyansky, Richard Chapman, Tom Cruze, Tom Delany, Rob Dicker, Stephanie Dowell, Matt Grotto, Rob Hart, Brian Jackson, Andy Lavalley, Michelle Lavigne, Curtis Lehmkuhl, Matt Marton, Joseph Meier, Dom Najolia, Andrew Nelles, Jeff Nicholls, Buzz Orr, Ryan Pagelow, Al Podgorski, Brian Powers, Brett Roseman, Larry Ruehl, Michael Schmidt, Michael Smart, Scott Stewart, Ernie Torres and White.
Raising the number to 29 was photographer and videographer Jon Sall, who was laid off March 17 after the company said it was changing its digital strategy.
The Chicago Newspaper Guild filed an unfair labor relations charge with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to have the photographers reinstated. The case is pending.
Ann Gerber
Gerber, who began her career with the Lerner Newspapers at age 16, went on to become a fixture on Chicago's society and celebrity circuit and one of the longest running newspaper columnists in the country. Her weekly roundup of catty comments, juicy gossip, blind items, and news about movers and shakers in Chicago and around the world still appears in Skyline, which has been her home paper under a variety of owners since 1960.
Commenting on her Lifetime Achievement Award, Gerber said: "I realize the fact that I’m a gossip columnist, which makes me suspect and certainly not as desirable as people who do hard news, but gossip is just an extension of people’s talk. Gossip is news. Besides, I print true gossip.”
ABC News anchor David Muir will receive the Chicago Journalists Association's Daniel Pearl Award, named for the Wall Street Journal reporter who was slain by Pakistani militants in 2002. Muir will be cited for his reports inside Iran leading up to the nuclear talks and for his reports from Mogadishu, Somalia, on the famine.
David Plier, weekend and fill-in host on WGN AM 720 and chief executive officer of Retail First Corp., will emcee the awards dinner at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza.