NEW YORK CITY (TIP): Nearly 150 people gathered June 5 at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism for the 12th annual Ippies Awards celebrating the thriving community and ethnic media in the New York City area. Honorees from among the more than 300 non-mainstream media outlets in NYC took home Ippies plaques and a total of $8,250 in prize money for their journalistic excellence. Also recognized, with a Lifetime Achievement Award, was Edward Lewis, who co-founded Essence Communications Inc., one of the country’s largest African- American multimedia organizations. The company was acquired by Time Inc. in 2005. Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, filmmaker and the founder of Define America, a campaign that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration delivered the keynote address.

“The Ippies is one of my favorite events each year. The work that is celebrated here serves as a powerful reminder of the vibrancy of this media sector,” said Sarah Bartlett, Dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Established by the Independent Press Association of New York, the Ippies are now given annually by the Center for Community and Ethnic Media (CCEM) at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. They are the only journalism awards to honor reporting in English and other languages by New York City’s ethnic and community press. CCEM Executive Director Garry Pierre- Pierre noted that the Center plans an annual “State of the Ethnic Media” survey and will continue to offer training sessions in digital media, as well as sponsor roundtables and other events with NYC politicians and newsmakers. The Center also publishes Voices of NY, an online site that curates stories from the community and ethnic media and publishes original reporting about communities, ethnic groups, immigration, labor and other issues.

The cocktail and dinner reception at the CUNY J-School was abuzz with local journalists who write and broadcast in English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Bengali, Korean, Russian and other languages. The crowd also got to sample a number of ethnic food, from Spanish tapas to Afghan kebabs. This year, over 150 submissions were received from more than 49 outlets for work published or broadcast in 2013. An independent panel of judges reviewed entries in 10 categories and awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes.

No prize was given this year for “Best Editorial/Commentary.” Among the Ippies winners were the Long Island Press in the “Best Story about Immigrants” category for “Muslim Americans: Behind the Veil of a Religion under Attack;” DNAinfo.com in the “Best Investigative” category for “Millions Raised by AIDS Walk Spent on Rent, Not HIV Services,” and City Limits in the “Best Social Issues Story” competition for “Pushing Cops to Consider Kids When Arresting Parent.” These three winners earned the top prize of $1,500 each; the rest of the first-place honorees received $750 each. The citations were given away by Jehangir Khattak, Communications Director, CCEM.

Here is the complete list of Ippies winners:
Best Immigrant Story

WINNER: Long Island Press: “Muslim Americans: Behind the Veil of a Religion Under Attack” by Rashid Mian
2ND PLACE: “An American Dream” by Ela Dutt
3RD PLACE: “English is Absent” by Sonja Sharp

Best Investigative Story

WINNER: DNAinfo.com New York: “Millions Raised by AIDS Walk Spent on Rent, Not HIV Services” by Matthew Katz
2ND PLACE: Sing Tao Daily: “The Dark Corner in An Elite High School’ by Rong Xiaoqing
3RD PLACE: The South Asian Times: “H4 Visa: Languishing in a golden cage” by Jinal Shah

Best Social Issues Story

WINNER: City Limits: “Pushing Cops to Consider Kids When Arresting Parent” by Rachel Blustain
2ND PLACE: Open City: “What Separates Welfare from Work” by E. Tammy Kim
3RD PLACE: DNAinfo New York: “Islan Nettles Coverage” by Jeff Mays

Best Audio Project

WINNER: Feet in 2 Worlds: “Remembering Srini, a Leader in a Hidden Part of New York” by Ramaa Reddy Raghavan
2ND PLACE: Feet in 2 Worlds: “What’s in an Accent? Both Opportunity and Barriers for Immigrant Actresses” by Sara Loscos, John Rudolph, Jocelyn Gonzales

Best Multimedia Project

WINNER: Feet in 2 Worlds: “‘What I Carried” – A New Collection of Immigration Stories From Fi2W and Cowbird
2ND PLACE: El Diario La Prensa: “We Are Dreamers”
3RD PLACE: Long Island Press: “One Year Later: Long Islanders Still Suffering from Sandy” by Rashed Mian, Christopher Twarowski Rashed Mian, Christopher Twarowski

Best Online Design

WINNER: Tablet Magazine: Alana Newhouse, Editor-in-Chief
2ND PLACE: Island Voice: Shereese Mullings
3RD PLACE: Long Island Press: Michael Conforti

Best Photo

WINNER: World Journal / Chenghui Hsu / Protest against ABC
2ND PLACE: Diario de Mexico / Gery Vereau / Leticia Ponce, who suffers from terminal cancer, fulfilled her wish of getting married.
3RD PLACE: DNAinfo New York / Ben Fractenberg / See How Bikes are Made in New York’s Oldest Cycle Factory

Best Print Design

WINNER: Allewaa Alarabi (Sept. 13, 2013) / Atef El Beialy
2ND PLACE: Desi Talk (June 14, 2013) / Parikh Worldwide Media LLC
3RD PLACE: Nueva Luz / En Foco, Inc. / Volume 18:1

Best Video

WINNER: SinoVision / Melody Cao, Yiyi Wang, Mumi Zhao, Zhaochen Dai, Tian Tian, Yuefeng Zhou, Fan Bu / Behind the Protests
2ND PLACE: SinoVision / Zhaochen Dai, Han Cui, Juan Guo, Tian Tian, Yuefeng Zhou, Fan Bu / Carnage in Brooklyn’s Chinatown
3RD PLACE: SinoVision / Lingjing Bian, Dizhi Ge, Tian Tian, Yuefeng Zhou / Investigating Postpartum Centers in Flushing