(Boston, Nov. 21, 2008) – The Center on Media and Society at the University of Massachusetts Boston honored nine top journalists working for ethnic-media outlets in New England at the first New England Ethnic Newswire Awards on Thursday, November 20.
Awards were presented in six categories for individuals. Julie Masis and Mark Connors of India New England (Waltham, MA) and, Marcony Almeida of the Brazilian Journal Magazine (Revere, MA), won first-place awards for local news reporting. Bill Forry of the Dorchester Reporter (Dorchester, MA) won the feature writing award. The editorial/commentary writing award went to Heloisa Galvao and Mark Puleo of the A Noticia (Malden, MA) and the Brazilian Journal Magazine (Revere, MA), respectively. Susan Jacobs of the Jewish Journal (Salem, MA) won the arts and culture reporting award, and Jehozadak Pereira, Metropolitan News (Malden, MA), won in the photojournalism category.
The center also recognized one outlet, the Tribuna Connecticut (Danbury, CT), for its community service.
Judging was supervised by the staff of the New England Ethnic Newswire (www.ethnicnewz.org), a Web-based news service run by the Center on Media and Society, which is part of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy at UMass Boston.
The competition attracted more than 125 entries from 24 news organizations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Six languages are accounted for in the entries: English, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, and Russian.
«We are thrilled with both the number of entries and the quality of the work,» said Frank Herron, director of the Center on Media and Society. «This indicates the growing strength of ethnic media in the region, and the commitment they have to their communities and the area as a whole.»
This regional contest is one of five that was held nationally and are linked to a nationwide ethnic-journalism award competition that culminates with a national ceremony in June in Atlanta. The national contest is being run by New America Media of California.
