NEWz Partners Win National Awards for Ethnic Journalism

Sue Yang, an awardee in the "Ethnic Elders" category of the NAM 2009 National Ethnic Media Awards, is the editor of Korean American Press, bostonKAP.com (KAP courtesy photo). See photo below of Boston Irish Reporter awardee Brian Concannon Jr.

Updated 20 May 2009 --> 

(Tuesday, 19 May 2009) -- New America Media (NAM), a San Franciso-based news agency that serves ethnic media in the US and abroad, announced yesterday the winners of the NAM 2009 National Ethnic Media Awards.

Two of the winners are Sue Yang, editor of the Woburn, Mass.-based Korean American Press Magazine, and Brian Concannon Jr., a contributing writer of the Boston Irish Reporter.  Both publications are media partners of the New England Ethnic Newswire (EthnicNEWz.org).

Sue Yang is runner up in the "Ethnic Elders" category for her article, "The Future That Maia Henderson Left Behind."

Brian Concannon Jr. received honorable mention in the "Race and Inter-ethnic Relations" category for his article, "Eating Dirt in Ireland and Haiti."

The Boston Irish Reporter is one of four neighborhood newspapers owned and managed by the Forry family of Boston.  Managing editor William ("Bill") Forry said Concannon's article is one of the few to have been published in all four papers, including the Boston Haitian Reporter (BHR), the Mattapan Reporter, and the Dorchester Reporter.

Concannon told NEWz in an e-mail he is greatly honored to received the NAM award.  "The award is a testament to the Boston Haitian Reporter, which has created a wonderful space for critical writing about issues involving Haiti and the U.S., and to the whole Reporter family."

"Like the BHR's publisher and editor, I am Irish-American and involved in supporting Haitian struggles for justice," added Concannon, who is the director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.  "When hunger increased rapidly in Haiti in early 2008, I was searching for a way to explain the crisis to people in the United States."

Concannon and Sue Yang also placed as finalists in the 2008 New England Ethnic Newswire Awards (NEENAs) competition.

Yang is a native of Korea who has lived in the US for about five years.  Maia Henderson, the subject of Yang's award-winning article, lived in Seoul from 1958 to 1963 as the wife of the US embassy's cultural attache to Korea.  Together they amassed one of the world's largest private collections of Korean art outside Korea, Yang said.

"At first I was intrigued by the rare collection and Maia Henderson's personal experience in Korea," Yang told NEWz in an e-mail.  She wrote the article about Henderson in Korean, which was translated into English by Dr. Sung-Yoon Lee of Tufts University.

After the article was published, "[It] drew the attention of the South Korean government as well. The Hendersons were not without controversy in South Korea, as many...believe that those invaluable works of Korean art should be housed in Korea," said Yang.  

A South Korean delegation subsequently visited the US to see part of the Hendersons' art collection at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University.

Yang and Concannon will be honored at New America Media's awards ceremony and expo in Atlanta, Ga., on June 4-5, 2009.

To see the entire list of NEENAs winners, click here: EthnicNEWz.org.

To see Yang's article in Korean, click here: BostonKAP.com

Best In Depth/Investigative Winner "To Have and to Hold"Kai Ma, KoreAm Journal

Runner Up "New Beginning"Chris King, St Louis American

Honorable Mention "Murder & Mourning in Baton Rouge"Anish Majurmdar, Little India

Best In-Depth/Investigative (In-Language)Winner "Twenty First Century Slaves" (a series)Claudia Núñez, La Opinión

Runner Up  "American Dream in Single Room Dwelling"Weijiang Huang, Sing Tao Daily

Honorable Mention Milagros Melendez, El Tiempo Latino"I Want to Be With My Mom"

International AffairsWinner"Palestinians Remember Their Catastrophe"Farkhunda Ali, Muslim Link

Runner Up"Institute of Turkish Studies Chair Was Ousted for Acknowledging Genocide"Lou Ann Matossian, Armenian Reporter

International Affairs (In-Language)Winner"Dragon Children Return"Rong Xiaoqing, Sing Tao Daily

Runner Up"Civil War Looms in Lebanon"Thaer Abbas, Aramica

Honorable Mention"Foreign Students: The Neglected Group"Yu Ting Zhou, World Journal

HealthcareWinner"Diet, What Diet?"Norma de la Vega, Enlace

Runner Up"Postpartum Depression: South Asian Women Suffer in Silence"Sunita Sohrabji, India West

Arts, Sports & EntertainmentWinner"The Rise of Street Literature"Almah LaVon Rice, ColorLines

Runner Up"Smashing Comeback"Emily Driscoll, Little India

Honorable Mention"High Rollers"Kai Ma, KoreAm Journal

Arts, Sports & Entertainment (In-Language)Winner"A Mixture of Languages"Leslie Froelich, Mundo Hispanico

Runner Up"Off-Track Betting Stations"Boon Hon Choo, World Journal

Commentary/EditorialWinner"LPGA: Does This Stand For 'Lees, Parks Go Away'?"Phillip Lee, Korean Quarterly

Runner Up"A Twice-Told Tale of Black, Brown & LAPD Blue"Jerry Sullivan, L.A. Garment & Citizen

Commentary/Editorial (In-Language)Winner"Qué Pasa Supports Barack Obama's Candidacy"Alejandro Manrique, David Coates, Peter Siavelis, Que Pasa

Runner Up"Government Officials Accountability Is Only The Beginning Of A Sound Quality Safety System"Weihang Que, The China Press

Ethnic EldersWinner"Sharks Are Targeting Servicemen, Elders, and Disabled People"Do Quy Toan, Viet Tribune

Runner Up"The Future That Maia Henderson Left Behind"Sue Yang, KAP Magazine, Korean American Press 

PhotojournalismWinner"Beyond the Burkha"Arindam Mukherjee, Audrey Magazine

Runner Up"The Airplane of the Deported"J Emilio Flores, La Opinión

Race and Inter Ethnic RelationsWinner"Neighborhood Watch"Julie Ha, KoreAm Journal

Runner Up"The Changing Face of Faith"Gabriela Gonzalez, La Prensa

Honorable Mention"Eating Dirt in Ireland and Haiti"Brian Concannon Jr., Boston Irish Reporter

EducationWinner"Finishing School is a Complicated Job"Erika Cebreros, El Mensajero

Runner Up"Are Hmong Schools Making the Grade?"Wameng Moua, Hmong Today

Environmental IssuesWinner"Color Me Green"Azizah Kahera & Staff Writers, Azizah Magazine

Runner Up"Green Rules Force Small Truckers Into the Red"Sunita Sohrabji, India WestBest Reporting on a Community Issue (Radio)

Winner"Teacher's Responsibilities vs Survival Instincts"Cindy Yip & Otis Fang, Sing Tao Radio

Runner Up"Mass Exodus of Hispanics from North Carolina"Alejandro Manrique, Que Pasa

Best Reporting on a Community Issue (TV)Winner"Farm Kids"Vicky Gutierrez, Telemundo, Los Angeles

Runner Up"Bone Marrow"Thuy Phan, Saigon Broadcasting Television Network

Honorable Mention"DTV Transition"Harry Liu, KTSF

Best Blogger on Ethnic PerspectivesWinnerThe Sanctuary

Runner UpChris Rabb, Afro-Netizen

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Brian Concannon Jr. is an awardee in the "Race and Inter-ethnic Relations" category of the 2009 NAM Ethnic Media Awards. (courtesy photo: Brian Concannon Jr.)