Best of CA Ethnic Media to be Showcased Nov. 17

BEST OF CALIFORNIA ETHNIC MEDIA TO BE SHOWCASED NOV. 17 At The NCM “Ethnic Pulitzers”

NCM Awards 2004, Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.— New California Media (NCM) will showcase the best in California’s ethnic journalism at a special two-hour gala awards banquet in the state capitol on November 17th. A who’s who of ethnic media, the awards will honor excellence in broadcasting, reporting and commentary in the ethnic press. Distinguished judges selected from more than 250 nominations in 10 languages. Awardees include representatives from Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Persian, Hispanic and Black press, among others.

NCM’s 6th annual signature event, dubbed the “Ethnic Pulitzers” by the Jim Lehrer NewsHour, will spotlight exceptional reporting in the ethnic press of California. “These awards celebrate ethnic media as a distinctive form of journalism in America that gives voice and visibility to California’s new majority,” says awards coordinator, Sandip Roy. “To really understand California today the multiple lenses these media bring to a global society.”

This year’s Awards Banquet will also give three “Exceptional Communicators,” awards to highlight the shared values of ethnic media and their communities. Jim Canales, president of The James Irvine Foundation, will accept an award for the foundation’s recognition of Valley California as not only as the region of California most underserved by philanthropy, but also as the state’s frontier for growth and optimism. Ned Doffoney, President of Fresno City College, will be recognized for promoting the role of community colleges as the portal to higher education for California’s ethnic majority. And Jayashri Srikantiah and the ACLU will be honored for their unwavering defense of the rights of the most vulnerable ethnic and immigrant communities in the post-9/11 security crackdowns.

Also this year, a special “Founders Award” will go to Franz Schurmann, professor emeritus of history and sociology at UC Berkeley, whose lifetime of reporting and linkage of multilingual media and their perspectives on global events and trends provided the vision and inspiration for NCM’s inception.

Quick on the heels the highly successful NCM EXPO in Fresno, California, the 2004 Awards Banquet will celebrate the vitality and vigor of a rapidly growing segment of American journalism. Watch for NCM’s announcement of the winners of this year’s awards, coming on Thursday, November 4th.



About New California Media
New California Media is an association of over 700 print, broadcast, and online ethnic media organizations founded in 1996 by the non-profit Pacific News Service. NCM’s goal is to raise the visibility of ethnic media, expand its access to the advertising dollar, leverage the voices of ethnic audiences nationwide through multilingual polling and promote inter-ethnic editorial collaboration. NCM is supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the California Endowment, the Open Society Institute, the California Wellness Foundation, the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the Overbrook Foundation, the Community Technology Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the San Francisco Foundation and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, among others. For more information, visit the website at http://www.ncmonline.com.