Announcing the 2027 Alumni Award Winners

This year, we are proud to recognize the following members of the CJS community as Alumni Award Winners. Read on to learn more about this year’s awardees. 

Richard L. Berke ’81, Co-Founder and Executive Editor, STAT 

Shaheen Pasha ’00, Associate Teaching Professor of Journalism, Penn State University and Co-Founder and Chief Education Officer, Prison Journalism Project

Leigh Ann Winick ’86, Lead Medical Producer, CBS News and Stations

The First Decade Award recognizes J-TEN alumni who have made significant contributions within the first ten years of graduation from the Journalism School: 

Belén Smole ’17, News Anchor, Telemundo62/NBC10

Richard L. Berke, '81 M.S.

Co-Founder and Executive Editor, STAT
Richard L. Berke is the co-founder and executive editor of STAT.  Since its launch in 2015, STAT has become an authoritative online source for tough-minded news, features, and investigations on science, health tech, public health, policy, and the business of making medicine. In early 2020, the New York Times described STAT as “the medical news site that saw the coronavirus coming months ago.” STAT has received four George Polk awards, nine national Edward R. Murrow awards, four Gerald Loeb awards, a National Magazine Award for general excellence, and two Pulitzer Prize finalists.

Born in Washington, D.C., Berke was passionate about journalism from when he started a newspaper in the third grade. One of his first scoops was as editor of the Walt Whitman High School Black & White in Bethesda, Md. He revealed to his colleague that as vice president, Richard Nixon had been exposed to microwave radiation during the "kitchen debates” in Moscow. "All the President's Men" was the hot movie at the time, and Berke and his news editor were splashed in newspapers and on magazine covers worldwide as “the young Woodward and Bernstein.’’

After graduating from the University of Michigan, where he was managing editor of the Michigan Daily, Berke went to the Columbia Journalism School. His first job was as a reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun, ending up as a Washington correspondent. From there, Berke spent nearly 28 years at the New York Times. His roles included chief political correspondent as well as beats covering Congress and the White House. As the assistant managing editor for news, he organized the Times' daily news coverage for many years. Berke also held roles as assistant managing editor for features, Washington editor, national editor, political editor, and video content editor. Before launching STAT, he was executive editor of POLITICO.

Berke was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2023. 

Shaheen Pasha, '00 M.S.

Associate Teaching Professor of Journalism, Penn State University and Co-Founder and Chief Education Officer, Prison Journalism Project
Shaheen Pasha is a co-founder and chief education officer of the Prison Journalism Project. She is also an associate teaching professor of journalism at Penn State University, focused on mass incarceration and prison education. Prior to that, Pasha was an assistant professor at UMass Amherst, where she launched an immersive explanatory journalism class at the Hampshire County Jail, bringing incarcerated and UMass students together to learn. She was awarded the Knight Nieman Visiting Fellowship in 2018 to expand her work teaching journalism behind bars.

Pasha is a veteran journalist with over 20 years of experience at outlets such as Thomson Reuters, CNNMoney, and Dow Jones/WSJ. She is currently serving on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project.

Leigh Ann Winick, '86 M.S.

Lead Medical Producer, CBS News and Stations
After graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Leigh Ann Winick worked for Newsweek magazine as a photo researcher. She saw her future in television news and, after following the broadcast news track at Columbia Journalism School, became a producer—initially in local news and later at CBS and CNN. Winick returned to CBS in 2013 as a medical producer.  She has covered topics such as brain trauma among athletes, insurance coverage for cancer patients, medical innovations in the age of AI, vaccine hesitancy, and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now the network’s lead medical producer, Winick is the recipient of national and local Emmys and the AACR Biedler Prize for cancer coverage.

The journalism school and her Columbia classmates have been a touchstone throughout her career as the industry continues to adapt amid rapid transformation and economic challenges.

First Decade Award 

The award recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions within the first ten years of graduation. 

Belén Smole, ’17 M.S.

News Anchor, Telemundo62/NBC10
Belén Smole is an award-winning journalist, investigative reporter, and news anchor. Over the past decade, she has covered some of the most consequential local and national stories, delivering trusted journalism to Hispanic audiences across the country. As an Argentine immigrant, Smole serves as a vital bridge to the Spanish-speaking community by providing translation and cultural and political context.

Her most recent coverage includes the arraignments of President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., and New York City, the presidential debate in Philadelphia, as well as the assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania.

Previously, Smole worked as an investigative reporter at Univision in Houston and as a general assignment reporter in Denver and Albuquerque. Among her most significant investigative stories are a three-part series examining the overdose epidemic in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, where Puerto Ricans face higher mortality rates than other demographic groups, and an investigation into clergy sexual abuse in New Mexico, where Hispanic children were disproportionately victimized.

Throughout her career, Smole has earned 18 Regional Emmy Awards, including Best News Anchor, Best General Assignment Reporter, and two consecutive awards for Best Investigative Reporter.