The Intermountain Jewish News won eight Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism at the American Jewish Press Associations 32nd annual conference June 24-27 in Seattle, Washington.
AJPA judges bestow only first- and second-place awards. There are two circulation categories, over 15,000 and under 15,000, for most entries; the IJN falls in the under 15,000 category.
IJN winners are as follows:
- Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, IJN executive editor, first place, Louis Rapaport Award for Excellence in Commentary, Black hole and the light of faith (Jan. 6, 2012), which judges described as ”Three eloquent essays that combine brilliant style with forceful advocacy.”
- Andrea Jacobs, IJN senior writer, first place, Excellence in Arts and Criticism News and Features, The victory of Jewish music over evil (Education and Culture, Aug. 10, 2012). This article competed against all newspapers, magazines, special sections, supplements and web-based outlets. Jacobs’ feature was described by judges as “A beautifully written profile of a man, a choral group and the role of music in both Jewish liturgy and the Holocaust. This story told me things I didn’t know, and made me want to learn more.”
- Shana Goldberg, IJN web editor, first place, Excellence in Organizational Newsletters, IJN weekly eNewsletter, which is emailed to participating subscribers. “Very user friendly!” commented the judges about the eNewsletter. ”Your front pages are laid out well for easy scanning by readers, without scrolling down a long page. Concise teasers.”
Additional honors include :
- Hillel Goldberg, second place, Excellence in Single Commentary, What they didn’t tell me on my Bar Mitzvah (Jan. 27, 2012).
- Hillel Golderg, second place, David Frank Award for Personality Profiles, and second place, Jacob Rader Marcus Award for American Jewish History, for Hadassah’s founder: The lonely and courageous life of Henrietta Szold (Education and Culture, Aug. 10, 2012).
- Andrea Jacobs, second place, Award for Excellence in Feature Writing, Cremation vs. burial: the final act (Kosher Living, March 23, 2012).
- Chris Leppek, IJN assistant editor, second place, Excellence in News Reporting, Is marijuana kosher? (Kosher Living, March 23, 2012). Judges said that Leppek’s article was “An interesting take on an issue that was in the news statewide, this story raised new questions and brought in a wide range of opinion.”
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
