News outlets powered by Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY students earned 16 Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards for Region 1, which covers most of the Northeast.
Three of the J-School’s winners notched first-place prizes at the April 22 awards ceremony in Bristol, RI, making them eligible for national SPJ awards to be announced in the fall:
- Yvonne Marquez’ AudioFiles piece, The Rush To Shelter Asylum Seekers, won the Radio News Reporting category.
- Trina Mannino’s AudioFiles story, Growing New York’s Retail Cannabis Market, took the Radio Feature category.
- Mary Steffenhagen’s Home Ed podcast, from the NYCity News Service’s When Home is School investigation into homeschooling, won the Narrative Podcast prize.
Steffenhagen’s podcast and the larger homeschooling project have already garnered multiple honors — and both are finalists in the Deadline Club’s annual competition, going up against the likes of NPR, The Daily Beast, ProPublica and THE CITY. The winners are set to be announced May 18 in a ceremony at the Harvard Club.
J-School pieces that took home finalist certificates from the SPJ Mark of Excellence student awards luncheon, held at Roger Williams University in Bristol, include:
- The lead image created by Steffenhagen, Sophia Lebowitz and Keith Paul Medelis for When Home is School.
- Mannino’s audio work, Choreographer and Filmmaker Yvonne Rainer Reflects On Her 60-year Career (Arts/Entertainment/Fashion Journalism); and World Cup Fever Hits New York (Radio Sports Reporting).
- AudioFile’s Is Human Composting the Next Big Thing? (Conversational Podcast).
- Tasha Sandoval’s AudioFiles piece, Union Members Protest Outside the Brooklyn Museum (Radio News Reporting).
- Elizabeth Napolitano’s lead photo for the NYCity News Service story, Too Close to Home (Breaking News Photography).
- Amanda Salazar and Maja Clasen’s photos for the NYCity News Service piece, “With Them, It’s a Family” (Feature Photography).
- 219West TV News Magazine’s A Season of Renewal episode (Best All-Around Television News Magazine).
- Charlene Wiatta Freeman’s 219West piece, Don’t Shoot: Aiming to End Gun Violence, (News Videography).
- Pumla Kalipa’s 219West piece, Luna Park Looks Beyond the Pandemic (Feature Videography).
- Sophia Lebowitz’s 219West piece, Trash Walker Aims to Zap Waste (Television Feature Reporting).
- ET Rodriguez’s series for the Mott Haven Herald, Eating Up the Growing South Bronx Restaurant Scene (Food/Restaurant Journalism category). (Here’s one installation.)
J-School news outlets — which include the NYCity News Service, 219West TV news magazine, AudioFiles podcast and radio programs, the Mott Haven Herald and the Hunts Point Express — have collected scores of honors in journalism competitions run by Editor & Publisher, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Online News Association, the Associated Collegiate Press, the College Media Association and other noted media groups since 2007.
SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to informing citizens; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and fights to protect First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.