Dale Willman Photo by Beth Parke

The Stolberg Award, an engraved plaque, was presented in October 2006 at SEJ's 16th annual conference in Burlington, Vermont to Dale Willman, who in nine years as a member has proven himself indispensable with the variety of volunteer tasks he has performed at the organization's annual meetings.

Whether operating the PowerPoint at the awards ceremony, taping sessions or moderating them, Dale has been a go-to volunteer. His volunteer duties have included serving as both a judge and committee member for SEJ's environmental reporting awards.

Dale "has been lurking around for years at the conferences, waiting to be helpful," Chris Rigel, SEJ's associate director said. "He's always there, always extremely helpful."

This year is no exception. Dale tackled one of the conference's most difficult assignments — organizing a three-day post-conference tour of the Adirondacks.

When he's not at an SEJ annual conference, Dale is an award-winning radio correspondent and editor who now is executive editor of his own nonprofit multimedia reporting company, Field Notes Productions. He also teaches and lectures at colleges, and still finds time for volunteer community work in his hometown of Saratoga Springs, NY.

Created in 1998, the award is given annually to a member or members whose service to the Society and to other members epitomizes the volunteer spirit of its namesake, David Stolberg, one of SEJ's founders. Much of SEJ's best work is accomplished by member-volunteers: from tour and panel organizers for the annual conference, contributors to SEJournal, to freedom-of-information watchdogs, mentors, leaders in diversity outreach and more. Volunteers define the heart and soul of SEJ, and expand the group's reach in ways that cannot be easily measured.

The winner is selected by a panel of three judges drawn from SEJ's board of directors and staff, and appointed by SEJ's president.