The L.A. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has chosen its four "distinguished journalists" for the year. To be honored at a banquet in the spring are:

* George Skelton, Sacramento columnist for the Los Angeles Times
* Larry Altman, reporter for the South Bay Daily Breeze
* Dave Bryan, (mostly) political reporter for CBS2 and KCAL-9
* Eric Leonard, news reporter and blogger for KFI AM 640

Who knew that Leonard began reporting for KFI when he was 18 years old. Bios after the jump.

DISTINGUISHED JOURNALIST AWARD WINNERS

TELEVISION

DAVE BRYAN joined KCAL-TV (Ch. 9) as a political reporter in March 1994 and became part of the combined CBS 2-KCAL 9 news team in January 2003. Throughout his career, Bryan has been on the front line of many breaking stories both locally and abroad. In 2003, he filed reports from Iraq, where he was the only Southern California television journalist embedded with the U.S. Marines. He traveled to Mogadishu in December 1992, where he covered Marines’ efforts to ease tension among the local warlords and relieve the famine that was ravaging Somalia. Bryan has also covered presidential campaigns and elections for more than 25 years. For most of the past two decades, Bryan's beat has been California politics. He has received numerous awards, including the UPI Maurice Williams Award and the Columbia-Dupont Award for enterprise reporting.

RADIO

ERIC LEONARD has been obsessed with news since birth, or sometime shortly thereafter. He became a reporter at KFI-AM (640) when he was only 18-years-old. Leonard has spent the last 11 years covering wildfires, wild trials, and wily politicians. He won a Golden Mike award in 2003 for best investigative reporting for uncovering political arm-twisting and illegal fundraising inside the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. In 2005, Leonard broke the story about radicals plotting to attack local synagogues and military recruiting stations. He also spent weeks living outdoors in New Orleans covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This year, Leonard busted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for riding a motorcycle without a license.

NEWSPAPERS (CIRCULATION <100,000)

LARRY ALTMAN realized he wanted to become a journalist when he went to work for his junior-high newspaper. Now, he's at The Daily Breeze, where he's spent the past 16 years reporting on nearly every major crime or breaking news story in the South Bay. In 2001, Altman recognized the description of a child molester as someone he'd written about two years earlier. He provided the name to detectives and the man was identified and prosecuted. For his work on that story, Altman received a Copley Ring of Truth Special Award of Honor for Meritorious Service in 2002. He later became the first recipient of The Daily Breeze "Making a Difference" Award. Just before his 40th birthday, Altman was named to Presstime magazine’s “20 under 40” list of rising newspaper professionals under 40. Altman serves as a mentor to younger reporters and has helped train fellow Breeze staffers.

NEWSPAPERS (CIRCULATION >100,000)

GEORGE SKELTON has been writing about government and politics for more than 45 years, mostly from Sacramento for the Los Angeles Times. He has covered seven governors, starting with Pat Brown. For the past 14 years, Skelton has written the twice-weekly Capitol Journal column. In his 33 years at the Times, Skelton has served as a White House correspondent (covering President Reagan), Sacramento bureau chief, political editor and a political writer. Before joining the Times, he was Sacramento bureau chief and state political writer for United Press International. Skelton began his career as a sports writer.