Six Southern California journalists and a First Amendment advocate will be honored at the Los Angeles Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ 50th annual awards celebration in October, the organization announced Tuesday.
The chapter’s 2026 Distinguished Journalists are Fox11 news anchor Christine Devine; Golden State co-founder and executive editor Mariel Garza; ESPN analyst Mina Kimes; Southern California News Group deputy opinion editor Larry Wilson; Voice Media Ventures founder and Black Voice News publisher Paulette Brown-Hinds; and former Gardena Valley News editor Gary Kohatsu, according to the organization.
Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum and its National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, will receive the chapter’s Freedom of Information Award.
The organization will also recognize the 100th anniversary of La Opinión, a Spanish-language daily newspaper, and honor student journalists Blake Fagan and Nikki Yunker.
KABC business news anchor Frank Mottek will moderate the Oct. 7 event at Castaway Burbank, 1250 E. Harvard Road.
Devine anchors Fox11’s 5 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts and has received 16 Emmys. Her honors also include the Governors Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Press Club’s President’s Award for Impact on Media.
Garza has worked as a reporter, editorial writer and editor for more than 35 years, including positions at the Los Angeles Daily News, Southern California News Group, Sacramento Bee and Los Angeles Times. She co-founded Golden State, a nonprofit publication focused on California and Los Angeles, in 2025.
Kimes is an NFL analyst at ESPN and a regular on “NFL Live.” Before joining ESPN in 2014, she worked as an investigative journalist for Fortune magazine and Bloomberg News.
Wilson, who grew up in Altadena, is a deputy opinion editor and editorial board member for Southern California News Group. He previously served as editor of the Pasadena Star-News.
Brown-Hinds is the founder of Voice Media Ventures and publisher of Black Voice News in the Inland Empire. She is a former president of the California News Publishers Association and currently chairs Rebuild Local News.
Kohatsu joined the Gardena Valley News in 1989 as a photographer and sportswriter and became the newspaper’s editor in 1991. He is now retired but continues to work part time for the Gardena Valley News and Culver City News.
Burroughs, an internationally recognized human rights advocate, serves as chair of Amnesty International’s International Board of Directors. A native of South Africa, she was imprisoned as a young activist for opposing apartheid.
Proceeds from the awards banquet will benefit SPJ/LA programs, including scholarships, journalism education and Freedom of Information efforts.