{"id":29522,"date":"2015-06-04T17:51:39","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T21:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2015\/06\/04\/journalist-receives-necc-alumni-award\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:15:51","slug":"journalist-receives-necc-alumni-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/04\/journalist-receives-necc-alumni-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist Receives NECC Alumni Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_11378\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2015\/06\/Helen-Ubinas-and-Family-newsroom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11378\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11378   \" alt=\"Left to right, Helen Ubi\u00f1as's parents, Maria and Sixto Ubinas, Helen, and her husband Michael Dunne, a 1991 graduate of NECC.\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2015\/06\/Helen-Ubinas-and-Family-newsroom-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11378\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left to right, Helen Ubi\u00f1as&#8217;s parents, Maria and Sixto Ubinas, Helen, and her husband Michael Dunne, a 1991 graduate of NECC.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Helen Ubi\u00f1as, an award-winning journalist and current Philadelphia Daily News columnist and alumna of Northern Essex Community College, is this year\u2019s recipient of the NECC 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award. Ubi\u00f1as was the commencement speaker at the college\u2019s 53<sup>rd<\/sup> commencement exercises in May.<\/p>\n<p>The award is given annually to recognize a Northern Essex graduate who has achieved success in his or her career, is active in the community, and has given back to the college.<\/p>\n<p>The award was presented to Ubi\u00f1as by Susan Bonenfant, chairperson of the NECC Alumni Association.<\/p>\n<p>In presenting the award to Ubi\u00f1as, formerly of Methuen, Bonefant said, \u201cShe is the type of person who inspires us every day through her work. As a long-time journalist, she has demonstrated an unwavering devotion to uncovering the truth, publishing the facts, and promoting positive social change. She has won numerous prizes for her writing, including a team Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Coverage of a 1999 state lottery shooting in Connecticut, and has given voice to countless individuals and groups who have over the years been silenced or ostracized.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11377\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2015\/06\/Helen-Ubinas-Newsroom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11377\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11377  \" alt=\"Photos by Mike Dean www.mikedeanphotos.com\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2015\/06\/Helen-Ubinas-Newsroom-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11377\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Award-winning journalist Helen Ubi\u00f1as was the recipient of the NECC 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In presenting the award on behalf of the NECC Alumni Association, Bonenfant noted, \u00a0\u201cWe alumni share in your pride and joy on this special day and officially welcome you as the newest members of the NECC Alumni Association. We hope you will make a point to stay connected and involved with Northern Essex. We wish you all great success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her commencement speech, Ubi\u00f1as, who attended Northern Essex from 1990-1991 and met her husband while they were both students at NECC, encouraged the graduates to use their voices as they move forward in their education and careers.<\/p>\n<p>Ubi\u00f1as is a former editor of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/observer.necc.mass.edu\/\">Observer<\/a>, NECC\u2019s student newspaper, who says she \u201cfound herself and her future\u201d at Northern Essex. After attending NECC, she transferred to Boston University, where she earned her bachelor\u2019s degree. She went on to earn a master\u2019s from Trinity College in Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p>Ubi\u00f1as was a longtime reporter and columnist for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.courant.com\/\">Hartford Courant<\/a>, Connecticut\u2019s longest continuously published newspaper, where she was awarded a number of honors, including a team Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 1999. In 2000, she became the Courant\u2019s first Latina news columnist. In 2007, she was one of 12 US journalists awarded the prestigious John S. Knight journalism fellowship at Stanford University. She\u2019s also received several awards since becoming a columnist in Philadelphia, including the top honor in column-writing at the 2014 Keystone Press Awards.<\/p>\n<p>For additional information contact Lindsey Mayo, director of NECC Alumni Relations at 978-556-3621 or\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:lmayo@necc.mass.edu\">lmayo@necc.mass.edu<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Helen Ubi\u00f1as, an award-winning journalist and current Philadelphia Daily News columnist and alumna of Northern Essex Community College, is this year\u2019s recipient of the NECC 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award. Ubi\u00f1as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Journalist Receives NECC Alumni Award - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/04\/journalist-receives-necc-alumni-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Journalist Receives NECC Alumni Award - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Helen Ubi\u00f1as, an award-winning journalist and current Philadelphia Daily News columnist and alumna of Northern Essex Community College, is this year\u2019s recipient of the NECC 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award. 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