(JTA) – 70 Faces Media won five awards, including four for first place, in the 37th Annual Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism.
The American Jewish Press Association presented the awards on Tuesday at its annual conference, which this year was held in Cleveland. The awards are for work published in 2017.
70 Faces is the parent company of JTA as well as several other brands: Kveller, My Jewish Learning, The Nosher, Alma and Jewniverse.
The first-place awards went to JTA Europe correspondent Cnaan Liphshiz and former Israel correspondent Andrew Tobin; My Jewish Learning; Molly Tolsky and Marissa Roer of Alma.
Liphshiz won for Excellence in Single Commentary for “I talked to the ‘anti-Semitic’ Swiss hotel owner. It’s more complicated than you think,” about a Swiss hotelier who posted signs urging her “Jewish guests” to shower before entering the pool. One judge commented: “I appreciate it when a writer upends conventional wisdom by burrowing deeper into the story. This well-written commentary, buttressed by its interviews with key sources, showed just how enlightening it can be to look beyond the surface.”
Liphshiz also took a second place award for The Boris Smolar Award for Excellence in Enterprise or Investigative Reporting for four reports on the rise of the far right in Europe.
My Jewish Learning won for Outstanding Digital Outreach.
Tolsky and Roer won for Excellence in a Multi-Media Story for their production “Meet Sara Erenthal: She was born into an extremist Orthodox sect, now she’s a prolific artist.” One judge commented: “By far the most professional of all productions, the producer and crew made the most of medium and the immense amount of time required to produce over 5 minutes and 30 seconds. The storytelling never lags and, by the end, viewers know Sara Erenthal much better than if they had read about her.”
Tobin won the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding Award for Excellence in Interfaith Relations Reports for his article titled “The first medic to respond to the Temple Mount terror attack was Muslim. Here’s his story.”
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