The Jewish Light received six Simon Rockower Awards for excellence in journalism. The awards, which honor achievements in Jewish media published in 2023, were announced during the American Jewish Press Association (AJPA) annual meeting on Monday, June 3 in Nashville, Tenn.
AJPA celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2024, which also marks the 43th year the Rockower Awards honor the best of Jewish journalism. The annual celebration recognizes superior writing and storytelling, according to Ellen Futterman, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Light.
“The Rockower Awards attest to the quality of top-tier Jewish news organizations,” Futterman said. “It’s gratifying to be honored and the six awards we received this year equals our all-time best. I am proud of our work, and this validates that we are delivering superior journalism to our readers.”
The first place award for excellence in writing about young families/people went to Futterman for the story “How the Patchin family is making every moment count.”
The first place award for excellence in writing about antisemitism went to Jordan Palmer for the Unsung Hero profile on teacher Betty Baumgartner in the story Local teacher’s humanity, creativity sparked by sixth-graders’ Nazi salite.”
Palmer, the Jewish Light chief digital content officer, also received second place in the award for excellence in business reporting-trends for the story “WashU freshman tasked with finding the stories within 10,000 Judaica books, and loving it.”
Jeanette Cooperman was honored with first place in the award for excellence in writing about seniors and second place in the award for excellence in personality profiles for the story “One hundred and counting.”
Honorable mention in the award for excellence in North American Jewish history went to Bill Motchan for the story “How 19th century Jews flourished, making history in this small Missouri town.”
