The Council of Jewish Federations has announced that Joseph Aaron, Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Carol Steinberg and Leonard Fein are the 1983 winners of the Smolar Awards for Excellence in North American Jewish Journalism.
In addition, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was awarded the Smolar Award Special Citation. David Friedman, JTA Washington bureau chief, and Charles Allen, Jr., who disclosed the connection between the Lyon gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and the CIA, the Vatican and the International Red Cross, were among the finalists in the Smolar Awards. Both were finalists in the Public Affairs category.
Alan Marcuvitz of Milwaukee, chairman of the CJF Smolar Awards Committee, which judges entries and designates winners, reported that committee members were impressed and gratified with the unusually high quality of the 130 entries in the 1983 competition. Thirty-three submissions were designated as finalists, the group from which winners are drawn.
WINNING ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Aaron’s award-winning article, “The Percy Lesson, ” was jointly commissioned and published by the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, Baltimore Jewish Times and the Long Island Jewish World. Aaron resides in Chicago.
Greenberg of New York was honored for his series of three articles on Jewish ethics and Jewish power, which ran in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, the Jewish Press and the Long Island Jewish World. Both Aaron and Greenberg won awards in the Public Affairs category.
“Getting a Jewish Divorce: Women Seek Equitable Treatment in Obtaining a Get,” won Steinberg the Smolar Award in the Human Interest category. Her article appeared in the Long Island Jewish World.
Fein’s “Days of Awe,” a reflection on the dual Jewish commitment to peace and to survival, took the Smolar Award in the Magazine category. It was published in Moment.
The Special Citation for Extraordinary Service to the Jewish Communities of North America through the medium of Jewish journalism went to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which was recognized as the “backbone” of the North American Jewish press.
THE 1983 FINALISTS
Finalists in the 1983 Smolar Awards are: Human Interest: staff, Baltimore Jewish Times; William Bole, Long Island Jewish World; Sissy Carpey, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent; Hillel Goldberg, Denver Inter-Mountain Jewish News; Geulah Grossman, Long Island Jewish World; Julie Liedman, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent; Arthur Magida, Baltimore Jewish Times; Robin Palley, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent; Gary Rosenblatt, Baltimore Jewish Times; Harold Steinblatt, Long Island Jewish World; Vivian Witt, Cleveland Jewish News.
Public Affairs: Jo Ann Abraham, Deal Park Jewish Voice; Carol Abrams, Cleveland Jewish News; Stuart Ain, Long Island Jewish World; Neil Barsky, Long Island Jewish World; Wolf Blitzer, Washington, D.C. (syndicated); Ian Blynn, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent; William Bole, Long Island Jewish World; Cynthia Dettelbach, Cleveland Jewish News; Phil Jacobs, Baltimore Jewish Times; Ellen G. Hyde, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent; Ray Kestenbaum, Jewish Week (New York); Sheldon Kirschner, Canadian Jewish News; Gary Rosenblatt, Baltimore Jewish Times; Richard Yaffe, Jewish Week (New York).
Magazine: Paul Cowan, Inside Philadelphia; Hillel Goldberg, Tradition Magazine; M. Hirsh Goldberg, B’nai B’rith Jewish Monthly; Staff, Moment; Victor Perera, Present Tense; Marc Silver, B’nai B’rith Jewish Monthly.
The CJF Smolar Awards are named in honor of Boris Smolar, author, journalist and Editor -in-chief Emeritus of the JTA.
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.
