South Jersey Climate News received a 2025 New Jersey Journalism Impact Award at a ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The award recognizes the environmental journalism that SJCN has produced during the past year. The award was given by the Corporation for New Jersey Local Media at the 2025 Byrne Kean Dinner in Florham Park, N.J., which was attended by more than 200 journalists, philanthropists, and the dinner’s co-chairs, former Gov. Thomas Kean and Ruthi Byrne, wife of former Gov. Brendan Byrne.
Rowan University students and alumni Katie Thorn, Beth Cimaglia, Sylent Michaels, Paige Britt, Sophia Fandino, and SJCN co-founder Dr. Dianne Garyantes accepted the award.
“It just means so much having this award as student journalists,” Katie Thorn, SJCN Editorial Assistant, said when accepting the award. “It provides more motivation for future journalists like us.”
SJCN co-advisor Dianne Garyantes added: “We’re very proud of the news content the students produce to inform our community about the local effects of climate change, as well as steps we can take to mitigate its impact.”
South Jersey Climate News is a collaborative journalism initiative that explores the effects of climate change on a local and regional level in southern New Jersey. The site was started in 2019 by Rowan University Journalism Professors Dianne Garyantes and Mark Berkey-Gerard. Content for the site is produced by students and their articles and multimedia packages also are shared with several news partners, including the Press of Atlantic City, Follow South Jersey, NJ Spotlight News, Delaware Currents and Green Philly.
Cited as part of the 2025 New Jersey Journalism Impact award were: South Jersey Climate News advisors Mark Berkey-Gerard and Dianne Garyantes, Rowan Productions Director Jon Akass, Rowan Productions staff Anthony Amoroso, Jada Ali, and Joe Pidgeon, and the students journalists who worked on SJCN in 2024 including: Rachel Amarillo, Rim Badaoui, Jimmy Borgmann, Paige Britt, Shayne Crowley, Tyler Delpercio, Sophia Fandino, Maryella Gallardo, Essence Holman, Elena Laughton, Aiden Martz, Sylent Lee Michaels, Madison Miller, Kelsey Royal, Arian Shahrokh, Abigail Twiford, Brynn Wilson, and Kate Zaffarese.
