The Center for Community and Ethnic Media (CCEM) presented their annual Ippies Awards on Thursday, May 18, and the Red Hook Star-Revue walked away a big winner!
The Ippies, named after “independent press,” are the only awards that recognize excellence in New York independent, ethnic and community journalism. CCEM was merged in 2012 with CUNY J-School, the only public graduate school of journalism in the Northeast. CCEM provides community based services and professional training for independent journalists.
The evening began with a selection of ethnic cuisine and kosher selections, along with beer, wine, and soda. After all were fully sated, Master of Ceremonies Randall Pinkerton began the ceremony by saying, “I love sampling the food, I love sampling the food, and I look forward to dessert.”
Pinkerton, who has hosted the Ippies for the past four years, worked for CBS for more than 30 years. He worked as a White House Correspondent and CBS’ Washington Bureau. He is a former adjunct Professor of Journalism at CUNY J-School, and currently an adjunct with Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism and Mississippi’s Meek school of Journalism.
Jehangir Khattak and Karen Pennar, Co-Directors of CCEM, spoke about the special work that they do and the vast and immensely important work of the center. The 15th annual Ippies Awards “celebrate[s] a vital media sector with more than 300 outlets in the New York area,” they wrote in a joint letter.
The Keynote Speaker was none other Red Hook’s very own councilman, Carlos Menchaca. Since elected, he has been a “fierce advocate for minority and immigrant rights,” as well as an “activist for social justice,” Pinkerton said.
Last year, Menchaca held hearings on the importance of the City Council’s support for community and ethnic journalism. Numerous guests had testified at the hearing including the Star-Revue’s Kimberly G. Price.
Menchaca gave a special shout out to “George and his team” at the Star-Revue, saying that “the relationship we’ve had over time has been up and down, left and right, in and out,” he said. “But this is what we do to push each other. Not just to tell the story, but to tell the story that’s going to inspire people to want to learn more.”
The Red Hook Star-Revue was honored with first place in Best Small Circulation Publication, one of eight categories of these prestigious awards. On their website, CCEM wrote:
The Red Hook Star-Revue, founded by co-publisher George Fiala, was honored as the best small circulation (under 30,000) publication this year. The judges said the publication was a “great example of what hyperlocal journalism can accomplish,” and they noted that the community of Red Hook is “lucky to have this local resource.”
As publishers serving this community, we could not be more thrilled and humbled by this great honor. Many thanks to CCEM for all of their hard work and dedication to ethnic and community journalism that lend so much support to publications like ours.
Full judges comments:
“The December 2016 edition of this publication informed readers about two new developments proposed for the Red Hook Houses, explored how police are being trained in Navajo peacekeeping methods, reported on the opening of a college and career readiness center, and explored the likely impact of Donald Trump’s election on the neighborhood. Just as useful, the listings of community happenings, church service hours, religious news, and news shorts. The community of Red Hook is lucky to have this local resource.”
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