During the 2024 Utah Chapter of the Society Professional Journalists awards ceremony on Thursday at the University of Utah, journalists from across the state were honored for exceptional journalism. 

Among the finalists were six City Journals’ writers, one of which received the esteemed Josephine Zimmerman Pioneer in Journalism Award. 

Education writer Julie Slama received the Josephine Zimmerman Pioneer Award for her inclusivity coverage of community members with special needs over the course of several years.

The Josephine Zimmerman Award is presented by the SPJ to journalists who have broken ground in journalism for a particular group or in a particular area. It’s named after longtime government reporter Josephine Zimmerman, who received the award in 2006 and retired from the Provo Daily Herald at age 80, per her obituary in the Deseret News. 

Like Zimmerman, Slama’s advocacy for those in the community has been impactful and her writing has inspired mainstream media coverage. 

“Thank you to SPJ for this award and for considering community news as a recipient for this award, because often community news is overlooked,” Slama said at the event when she received the award.

Slama called community reporting “the heart of journalism.”

“It's more than just ink on paper,” she said. “It's a labor of love crafted by dedicated journalists who are passionate about telling our community stories. It's a platform for bringing people together to share opinions, discuss local issues and build a sense of community through resident stories and their accomplishments.”

Slama has written for the City Journals for nearly 20 years. But for the past five years, she’s written at least 125 articles on the topic of inclusivity for those with special needs, 30 of which were written in 2023 and submitted for the Josephine Zimmerman Pioneer in Journalism Award. 

Editor of the City Journals Travis Barton said Slama is “working from the frontlines breaking ground on those who have fought to advance science, improve understanding and provide opportunities for those with special needs.” 

“Whether it’s covering the growth of unified sports in high schools or young adults trying to raise awareness and comprehension for those with special needs, Ms. Slama covered the special needs community from every angle she could,” Barton wrote in his nomination of Slama. 

In addition to her coverage of unified sports in Utah high schools, she’s written riveting stories on a prom organized to further inclusion of those with special needs, a sophomore with Asperger's syndrome asking legislators to sign a pro-inclusion pledge, and a junior with spina bifida creating art to spark inclusion.

In one particular article Slama wrote about Copper Hills’ celebration of a national banner honoring inclusion in basketball, she quoted Utah First Lady Abby Cox.

“You are making sure that everybody has a place of love and belonging,” Cox told students at the event. “You are starting an inclusion revolution. Everyone needs a friend and you’re making sure that we’re creating those friendships.”

Slama’s writing has made her a part of that “inclusion revolution” and led to her recognition at the SPJ awards ceremony. 

At the ceremony, she gave the credit for her success to all those that were the true “heroes” behind the award.

“I'm deeply grateful to those unified students and their families, they've opened their hearts and they trusted me to tell their stories,” Slama said. “I've watched many of them excel, and they're truly the heroes behind this award.”

She was also recognized for six other awards that night, alongside six fellow writers of the City Journals including Peri Kinder who won first and second in the humor and lifestyle column category, Ella Joy Olsen who won first place in the environmental category, Genevieve Vahl who won an honorable mention for solutions journalism and third for arts and entertainment, Jet Burnham who won third in the Division B series, and Collette Hayes who placed second in the military category.

A total of 15 awards were won by journalists of the City Journals. λ