The Jewish Independent has been honored this year with another Rockower Award for excellence in Jewish journalism. The winners were announced at the annual conference of the American Jewish Press Association (AJPA), which took place in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 11-14.
The Independent took first place in its division – newspapers with under 14,999 circulation – for excellence in editorial writing.
The July 15, 2011, winning editorial, CIJA rejig: Shonda 2.0, was about the shakeup of Canada’s Jewish and Zionist communal institutions and the almost completely secretive and entirely antidemocratic processes around the revamp. The AJPA commented: "This hard-hitting editorial is a powerful response to a crucial issue in the life of the national Jewish community."
Placing second in the same division was “Standing up to fear mongering” by Larry Levin and Robert A. Cohn, which was published in the St. Louis Jewish Light. The AJPA judges noted, "This editorial does an excellent job of contextualizing the Missouri House's ban on shariah both in terms of the importance of religious law generally and the specific history of persecution of religious minorities."
In the larger-circulation group – newspapers with more than 15,000 circulation and all magazines/websites – the first-place award for editorial writing was given to the Jewish Standard (Teaneck, N.J.) for A deafening silence by Shammai Engelmayer and Larry Yudelson, which the judges described as "[a] stirring pair of editorials denouncing the silence by both American Jews and Israeli officials in the face of unacceptable violence by ultra-Orthodox Jews against Jewish schoolchildren in the town of Beit Shemesh." Second place went to our compatriots, the Canadian Jewish News (North York, Ontario), for Morally vacuous, intellectually dishonest by Mordechai Ben-Dat, about which the AJPA commented: "Unmasks the antisemitism underlying attempts at boycotting Israeli products in Ontario. A clear-eyed look at the real motives of those calling for divestment and sanctions, ostensibly in the name of peace and justice."
AJPA membership comprises some 250 newspapers, magazines, individual journalists and affiliated organizations throughout North America, with a combined readership of member publications of more than 2.5 million. Since its inception in 1930, the Independent, formerly the Jewish Western Bulletin, has received many honors, including, as of this year, some 20 Rockowers, multiple Smolar Awards (from the then-Council of Jewish Federations), more than one Media Human Rights Award (from the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada), as well as an Ethnic Press Council of Canada award, a B.C. Newspaper Foundation honor and a Jack Webster award for excellence in British Columbia journalism.