1978 Smolar Award Winners Announced

Winners of the 1978 Smolar Awards for Excellence in American Jewish Journalism, conferred annually by the Council of Jewish Federations, have been announced by Saul Viener, chairman of the Smolar Award Committee. The winners are Jerry D. Barach, Cleveland Jewish News; Robert Kanigel, Baltimore Jewish Times; Toba Korenblum, Canadian Jewish News; and Martin Levin, Jewish Post of Winnipeg.

The Smolar Awards will be presented Thursday, Nov. 9, during the 47th CJF General Assembly in San Francisco. The Award is named in honor of Boris Smolar, journalist, author and editor-in-chief emeritus of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The Smolar Awards were established by the Council to encourage the highest standards of integrity and professional quality in American Jewish journalism.

Barach, editor of the Cleveland Jewish News, received the Award in the category of “Best Columns” based on a series of reports describing the historic visit of 12 American Jewish editors to Morocco. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Barach was previously an editor for the St. Louis Globe Democrat.

Kanigel, a free lance writer, won the Award for “Best News Coverage.” His winning entry was his Baltimore Jewish Times coverage of the trial of a local man accused of Nazi war crimes. Kanigel has been associated with the Baltimore Jewish Times since 1976. He is also a frequent contributor to the Op-Ed page of the Baltimore Sun, and writes for the Johns Hopkins Magazine and the New York Times Travel Section. He is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Toba Korenblum is the Smolar Award recipient in the “Best Features” category for stories on anti-Zionism in universities, on religious instruction in the public school system and on Jewish Dialog editor-poet Joe Rosenblatt all appearing in the Canadian Jewish News. Ms. Korenblum began working for the weekly three years ago as a summer intern while studying for a graduate degree in journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa and then joined the paper’s full-time staff. She also holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto.

Levin, editor of the Winnipeg Jewish Post, won the Award for “Best Editorials.” His editorials dealt with Vanessa Redgrave’s anti-Zionist remarks at the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony, American rightwing extremists, and U.S. aircraft sales to Arab countries. Levin received a B.A. from the University of Manitoba and an M.A. from the University of Toronto, where he later taught English literature. He is a former Editorial Page editor of the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal and is a published poet.