LOS ANGELES – Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who spent nearly four months in an Iranian prison on espionage charges, will be the speaker at an awards banquet hosted by the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The 34th Annual Distinguished Journalists banquet on April 27 will honor five local journalists. Honorees are Andrew Blankstein, a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times; Denise Nix, a staff writer at the Daily Breeze; Dave Lopez, Orange County Correspondent for CBS2/KCAL9 News; and Claudia Peschiutta, a reporter for KNX 1070 Newsradio. Celeste Fremon, creator and editor of WitnessLA.com, is the recipient of the chapter’s Distinguished Work in New Media Award.

Saberi, who had been working as a journalist in Iran since 2003, was dragged from her home by four men on Jan. 31, 2009, arrested, and accused of espionage, a charge she denied. She spent 11 days in jail before she was allowed to make a phone call to her parents. After a sham trial, she was sentenced to eight years in Iranian prison, but following broad-based international pressure, Saberi was released from Evin prison on appeal on May 11, 2009.

Saberi, who was born in New Jersey and raised in North Dakota, has written a book, “Between Two Worlds,” about her experiences, including stories of her fellow prisoners – who included supporters of a civil disobedience movement, a humanitarian worker, a student activist, and Baha’is, members of the largest religious minority in Iran.

Saberi has a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University, and a second master’s degree from Cambridge, in international relations. She has reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio and Fox News.

SPJ/LA presents Distinguished Journalists awards to members of the profession who demonstrate good news judgment, a strong sense of ethics and a passion for getting the story right. Honorees are journalists who have achieved a record of accomplishments over the course of several years. For the past three decades, the chapter has recognized reporters, editors and photographers in print and broadcast journalism. In 1997, the chapter began honoring journalists in four categories: television, radio, newspapers with a circulation of less than 100,000 and newspapers with a circulation of 100,000 or more.

The Distinguished Work in New Media award was created in 2008 and is given to a journalist who uses the new media’s unique characteristics and capabilities while striving to uphold traditional journalism’s highest standards of honesty, accuracy, responsibility and accountability.

The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation’s largest and most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to promoting high standards of ethical behavior and encouraging the free practice of journalism. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.