A journalist who is in jail and two who might soon join him have been named Journalists of the Year by the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists “for upholding the principles of a free and independent press.” Blogger and freelance TV photographer Josh Wolf, whose mother is seen above accepting the award from presenters Al Hart and Belva Davis, has been jailed for 83 days now (as of Nov. 11) because he refused to provide outtakes of a video he shot of a political protest to a federal grand jury. SPJ’s decision to name Wolf is significant because there has been a debate as to whether he should be considered a journalist. Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada are the Chronicle reporters who are refusing to identify their source of grand jury transcripts that shed light on steroid use by baseball players. The three were honored at SPJ’s awards banquet at the Yank Sing Restaurant in San Francisco on Thursday. The featured speaker was Jerry Roberts, who resigned in July 6 as editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press and was previously managing editor of the Chronicle. SPJ presented a number of awards, which are detailed in this news release. (Photo by Scott Braley via www.indybay.org) [Bay Area Indymedia: SPJ Honors Grand Jury Resisters, Wolf, Fainaru-Wada and Williams]