At the American Jewish Press Association's annual conference last month, the Jewish Independent won first place in its circulation category (under 15,000) for excellence in a single commentary, with the June 19, 2009, article "Transparency Good for Jews" by Dr. Stefan Braun, about the unintended consequences of censoring hate speech.
This latest award adds to the many honors the Jewish Independent has received over the years. "Ideals Fall Short at UN," published Dec. 19, 2008, won a first-place 2008 Simon Rockower Award for excellence in editorial writing, Eugene Kaellis' "Capitalism's ideological anchor: Reactions to the works of Ayn Rand continue to oscillate, despite the years gone by," published Jan. 11, 2008, won first-place in feature writing and Baila Lazarus placed second that year for the photo that graced the cover of the Independent's June 13, 2008, Summer Celebration issue, called "Celebrating 150 Years of B.C. this Summer 1858-2008."
In 2008, a Simon Rockower Award for excellence in feature writing went to West Vancouver writer Kelley Korbin for her article "Looking for a new life: Jewish prisoners seek comfort in the community," published in the Independent Jan. 12, 2007. And, three years ago, the Independent had another hat trick, with Katharine Hamer's second-place finish for excellence in news reporting ("Waiting out the rising storm: Israelis live in fear, hope as tensions escalate on two fronts," July 21, 2006), Brad Fisher's second-place article for excellence in feature writing ("Life lessons from a beautiful baby: Don't be afraid to reach out to friends facing the death of a loved one, they need you," Feb. 24, 2006) and a third-place finish for excellence in editorial writing with "Fight for free speech," which ran Feb. 24, 2006.
Since its inception in 1930, the Independent, formerly the Jewish Western Bulletin, has received many honors, including at least 17 Rockowers, as well as a Jack Webster award for excellence in British Columbia journalism and an Ethnic Press Council of Canada award. As always, the Independent thanks all of its readers and advertisers for their continued support and is proud to share these honors with them.
Founded in 1944, the AJPA currently represents more than 250 publications, journalists and affiliated organizations in the United States and Canada, and the combined readership of AJPA member publications is more than 2.5 million.