Oakland County 115 News 
Recognized with Society of Professional Journalists Award
(oc115, April 14, 2016)
Troy, MI – The Society of Professional Journalists Detroit Chapter held their annual awards dinner Tuesday night, and the Oakland County 115 News Hub (oc115) was among those recognized with an Excellence in Journalism Award.
Editor and Publisher Crystal Proxmire earned second place for investigative reporting for online news for “A Year’s Worth of Change in Ferndale Housing Commission,” a lengthy collection of stories about the mismanagement and the effort to repair the damage that was exposed.
The judges for the competition were out of state journalism professionals, who commented “Crystal Proxmire logs countless hours on the minutia of the Ferndale Housing Commission and thank God for her. Because the small stuff adds up to big truths which could be easily overlooked by the massive bureaucracy at HUD were it not for her tireless reporting. Proxmire treats the drug addled flameout of Housing Manager Deb Wilson, caught stealing drugs from her own poor residents and leading police on a high-speed chase, as more than a spot news headline. Proxmire’s relentless attention to detail reveals Wilson’s crimes as part of a larger pattern of mismanagement. Good work.”
Proxmire previously earned a third place award in the same category in 2012 for reporting on a scandal involving the former Ferndale Schools Superintendent who was using public school 
resources to build a charter school management company.
The first place winner for the same category was freelance reporter Anna Clark who wrote “The Threat to Detroit’s Rebound Isn’t Crime or the Economy, It’s the Mortgage Industry.” Her reporting explores mortgage companies denying qualified applicants.
Reporters and photographers from throughout SE Michigan were honored, including Detroit News columnist Laura Berman and Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Ron Fonger of The Flint Journal was named Journalist of the Year and Michael Martinez of the Detroit News was named Young Journalist of the Year. Check out the complete list of winners and the comments below:
