Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism news outlets won six first-place honors in the National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence Awards — nearly sweeping student categories.
The J-School took all but one of the top collegiate awards while securing three finalists in the competition, whose winners were announced during an Aug. 5 ceremony at the NABJ Convention & Career Fair in Birmingham, Alabama.
Among the winners:
- 219West TV News Magazine, which is produced by students and airs on CUNY TV, took the Best Newscast category with the show’s Challenges & Resilience installment.
- Hard Lessons, a NYCity News Service report examining how New York City schools are struggling to rebound from the pandemic, garnered the top award for Best Use of Multimedia – Special Project. The Housing Crunch, the News Service’s look at housing insecurity, scored a finalist spot in the category.
- Amaya McDonald’s Missing Faces: Why Are So Few Black Men Teachers in New York City?, part of the Hard Lessons story package, won for Online News Reporting.
- Amanda Braitman’s News Service story, Delivering a Tall Order, which chronicles the impact of a new Brooklyn community center, notched first place for Online Feature Reporting. McDonald’s News Service piece, A Play in the Key of Life, which previewed the recent Broadway revival of August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” was a finalist in the category.
- Briana Ellis-Gibbs’ photo of Vice President Kamala Harris, snapped for the News Service, won for Photography – Single Image. Christian Colón’s image of Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez with a Bronx constituent, also taken for the News Service, was a finalist in the category.
- Youcef Bounab’s News Service photo essay, Life of a Bronx Mosque, topped the Photography – Multiple Images category.
The wins came just over a week after Dead Wrong, a NYCity News Service investigation detailing shady funeral industry practices, was named a finalist in the Online News Association’s Online Journalism Awards competition. Winners are set to be announced during ONA’s Aug. 23-26 conference in Philadelphia.
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.