Winners of the 1977 Smolar Awards, given each year by the Council of Jewish Federations (CJF) for excellence in the field of journalism, have been announced by Saul Viener, chairman of the CJF Smolar Award Committee. Selected from the over 100 entries submitted to the Committee, the winners are: Gary Rosenblatt, editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times; Sheldon Kirshner of the Canadian Jewish News, Toronto; Earl Rabb of the San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, and the staff of the Omaha Jewish Press. Formal presentation of the awards will be made at the CJF General Assembly to be held Nov. 9-13 in Dallas, Texas. The Smolar Award is named in honor of Boris Smolar, journalist, author and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The award for the “Best News Coverage” went to Rosenblatt for three articles which appeared in the Baltimore Jewish Times dealing with intermarriage; an analysis of various Jewish agencies and their respective areas of responsibility, and a summary of “The Year in Review.”
FACTS ABOUT THE WINNERS
Rosenblatt has served as Editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times since early 1975, moving up from the position of Associate Editor. He previously served as Assistant Editor of the Jewish Week-American Examiner in New York for two years and as a New Jersey correspondent for The New York Times and Sports Editor of TV Guide. He has contributed articles to numerous Jewish and general newspapers and magazines.
Kirshner’s Smolar Award is for the field of editorial writing. The articles submitted by Kirshner deal with former Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin’s decision to dissolve the coalition government and call for new elections; an evaluation of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s achievements in the Middle East, and a third analyzing the outcome of the civil war in Lebanon. An editorial and staff writer for the Canadian Jewish News since 1974, Kirshner has previously been employed by Hebrew University in Israel, as well as by several Canadian firms. He is a graduate of London University with a degree in history and has had articles published in Midstream, The Jerusalem Post, The Toronto Financial Post and The Montreal Star.
Selected as the Smolar Award winner in the category of “Best Columns, ” Earl Rabb’s winning entry consisted of three columns dealing with a survivor of the Holocaust; the principle of law in Jewish tradition, and the mass media and anti-Semitism. In addition to writing his column for the San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, regularly since 1972, Rabb also serves as the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Marin County and the Peninsula. He holds teaching positions at both the University of California and San Francisco State University and is the author of several books including “Major Social Problems,” published by Harper and Row; “American Race Relations Today” and “Religious Conflicts in America,” both published by Dubleday; “The Politics of Unreason,” published by Harper and Row and co-authored with Seymour Lipset, and “The Pattern of Poverty in California,” a publication of the State of California. Rabb was named a Senior Fellow by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1973 and served as the chief consultant for the California State Social Welfare Board from 1962-66.
STAFF SHARES AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE
A special Rosh Hashanah issue on the theme, “The Jewish Family, ” resulted in the Smolar Award for excellence in the area of feature material to the staff of the Omaha Jewish Press. The special 83-page edition focused attention on various Omaha Jewish families–both young and old–and told the story of their lives and their feelings about their religion. Published weekly by the Jewish Federation of Omaha, The Jewish Press is headed by its Editor, Morris Maline, and Associate Editor, Judith Marburg. Barbara Simon, now Director of the Women’s Division at the Jewish Federation, was a staff writer for The Jewish Press last year and took on the assignment as special editor for the award-winning Rosh Hashanah edition. A native of Trenton, N.J. Ms. Simon received her Masters Degree from the University of Nebraska. She joined the Federation staff last year, after serving as assistant to the Dean of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service at the University of Nebraska.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
