Phil Kadner biography
May 17, 2011 10:32PM
Updated: May 6, 2013 3:49PM
Phil Kadner’s column appears five times a week in the print edition of the SouthtownStar.
He was named the 2013 Illinois Journalist of the Year by the journalism faculty of Northern Illinois University and representatvies of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association.
He believes columnists should advocate for readers and their communities. So he has not only championed the causes of individuals doing battle against big business and big government, but he has battled for a new building on behalf of the Crisis Center for South Suburbia, fought for construction of a permanent shelter for the homeless in the Southland, and successfully campaigned for the creation of a public access counselor in the Illinois attorney general’s office, a lawyer who will actually help citizens who want information about what their government is doing.
Kadner, who grew up on Chicago’s Southwest Side and attended Bogan High School there, has won lifetime achievement and ethics awards from the Chicago Headline Club.
He also received a Freedom of the Press Award from the Illinois Press Association and a Studs Terkel Award for long-standing excellence in reporting from the Community Media Workshop at Columbia College Chicago.
Kadner was inducted into the Northern Star student newspaper Hall of Fame at Northern Illinois University, from which he graduated while majoring in journalism.
He has received numerous column writing awards from the Illinois (AP) Editors Association, Illinois Press Association and Chicago Headline Club.
He also received a Dianne Masters Award from the Crisis Center for South Suburbia, a Media Excellence Award from the Arc of Illinois, and a Life Safety Award from the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance for a series of columns that improved fire codes for public school buildings.
He lives in Orland Park.
Phil Kadner can be reached at pkadner@southtownstar.com.
