After more than 300 nominations were submitted for the awards Ethnic Media Services –California Black Media 2023, which honors excellence in journalism in the ethnic media sector, spanning print, broadcast, English and non-English language media across the Golden State.
26 judges were carefully selected for their cultural and linguistic fluency, ranging from journalism professors to writers, editors, researchers and policymakers from across the state, all celebrating the best in ethnic journalism.
In original language, the winners were:
- BREAKING NEWS FEATURED: YTV Pomsang Kim | Transmission | Black-Korean American Friendship Mural Uncovered in Los Angeles Riots
- FEATURED EDITORIAL: alliance | Javier Alvarado and Rossana Drumond | Printed | Interview with imprisoned community leader José Hernández / Testimony of an immigrant on strike: "With aggressive measures they want to silence our voice."
- FEATURED WRITING: Nguoi Viet | Kalynh Ngo | Printed| Profile of music producer To Van Lai
- FEATURED EXPLANATORY WRITING: Korean Daily | Suah Jang | Covering the lives and rights of Korean American seniors
- FEATURED INVESTIGATION REPORT: The opinion | Jorge Macías | Printed | The testimony of a transgender woman who suffers hate and discrimination
- FEATURED INTERNATIONAL REPORTS: World Magazine | Carlos Ding | Print | How different countries managed the pandemic
In English, the winners were:
- BREAKING NEWS FEATURED: María Ortiz Briones | Printed | Local Election Coverage in Tulare County
- FEATURED EDITORIAL: Philippines News | Ramon Faustino L Dolor II writing under the name Beting Laygo Dolor | Printed | The disappearance of cockfighting fans
- FEATURED WRITING: Black Catholic Messenger | Nate Tinner-Williams | Printed | Interview with a priest
- FEATURED INVESTIGATION REPORT: Sacramento Observer | Genoa tumulus | Printed | Domestic violence and gun violence in the community
- FEATURED INTERNATIONAL REPORTS: AsAmNews | Corrie Martin | Printed | Babies and War: Jane Chen's Baby Incubators Used in the Russia-Ukraine War
- FEATURED EXPLANATORY REPORT: Black Voice News | Breanna Reeves | Printed | Give birth while black
- FEATURED PHOTO ESSAY: LA Standard | Jason Lewis | June 16 Celebration
- FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHY: U.S. News Express | Keyang Pang | Pastor Billy Chang
- FEATURED WEBSITE: Indian voices | Veronica Wood | Online | redindigena.org
- FEATURED SOCIAL NETWORKS: Radio B'alam | Online | Indigenous migrants show their organizational capabilities
Six of the winners met this Friday in a session organized by Ethnic Media Services, where they talked about their winning works, and the challenges they faced in obtaining the story and in-depth articles that they are currently covering or hope to cover this year.
"How do you choose the best of the best?" questioned Sandy Close, CEO of Ethnic Media Services, referring to the question posed by Richard Rodriguez, an awards judge during the contest.
Close celebrated the increase in the number of candidates and their high quality, despite the fact that ethnic media editors had to cut their reporting "to the bone", like many other mainstream media, all due to the pandemic, the change in traditional and digital advertising, among other issues.
John Dinh Xuan Thai, from Little Saigon TV, who were finalists in the Outstanding International Reporting category for their work from Ukraine and Poland in the first days of the war after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, thanked the story for its recognition and explained their difficulties.
«Immigrants, including Vietnamese labor, tried to escape and were trapped at the border. So we thought about those people. That's why we upload the story. The reason we did this Ukraine story was because it is very similar to the Vietnam War,” said Xuan Thai.
Together with his partner, Anh Thai, he highlighted that the situation made them create the finalist story, one where humanity was a priority.
«This story made my heart drop. I met a little girl, she spoke very little English. I met her in a refugee camp in Poland. She came to me, I don't know why she chose me. She asked me one thing: Do you believe in God? I was surprised. I was shocked. I could'nt believe it"
Although we all know about the war in Ukraine and Russia, this group of journalists managed to make it known how Vietnamese people were affected in the war.
For Nate Tinner-Williams, editor of the Black Catholic Messenger, winner in the Outstanding Writing category, and creator of the report with the «Interview with Fr. Anthony ?Amde? Hamilton, Creole poet and founder of rap turned Eastern Orthodox priest,” highlighting the history of black Catholics has been his guide.
The outlet was founded in 2020, during the pandemic, to center Black Catholics in the country's often-overlooked daily history.
"Unfortunately, when most people think of African Americans, they think of Protestants. Typically Baptists, they think of gospel choirs, they think of boisterous preachers, and while that's an important part of African-American religion, it's not the whole story. It is not the only expression and it is not even the oldest expression.
Tinner-Williams recalled that, in places like Louisiana and other American regions influenced by colonial powers other than Great Britain, the history of black religion is rather intertwined with the Catholic Church, the largest religious group in the world.
Given this, the story told by Tinner-Williams occurred, and which includes Father Anthony, D. Hamilton, who grew up in Louisiana, in a family descended from French and African inhabitants of the southern region of that state.
Among his upcoming stories is the centennial of St. Augustine Seminary on Bay St., which was the first integrated Catholic seminary in the United States. In addition, he was the first to accept men of African descent and train to be priests.
Mireya Olivera, from Impulso Noticias and who participated in the contest with a story that had to do with the march that took place in LA, on October 15, 2022, in which Oaxacans from different cities in California marched to protest after some Members of the Los Angeles city council had expressed racist opinions in which they mentioned those from Oaxaca, a state in Mexico.
The march was called by one of the oldest organizations of Oaxacans in Los Angeles called the Oaxaca Regional Organization, and CIELO which is Indigenous Communities in Leadership, as well as various community leaders to express their feelings about what generated such racist comments from the councilors.
"These stereotypes hurt and damage our community, because they describe our people as racially inferior," Olivera highlighted.
After the march and their work, senators from California are visiting the state of Oaxaca in Mexico to learn about the culture, just as teachers from Los Angeles visit indigenous communities.
On the occasion, Esmeralda Mendoza of Radio B'alam, a Mayan language radio station through Facebook, and who also participated in the race, pointed out that her work seeks to give a voice to Mayan speakers in the Bay Area, mainly in Oakland.
«Do we speak in the indigenous language called Myam from Central America, specifically from Guatemala? And we make broadcasts talking about certain information that we believe is important for our community,” Mendoza said. «Our community is, really, one that has not been valued in these years. "A lot of people don't know we're here in the Bay Area."
«We have information and the resources are mostly in Spanish. It is difficult for our community to reach out because some of our members need help. We give this type of support to the community so that they can have access to the services that exist. We are the bridge to those resources. We give them information, we help them, or we try to give them the right resources where they can trust organizations that are willing to help our community.
Esmeralda Mendoza said she is proud of the work of radio B?alam as part of the immigrant community, because they know the struggles of not having papers and the language barriers that her community faces.
Pamela Anchang, from The Immigrant Magazine, the most important thing is to give a voice to immigrants, and although the goal is to start with Africa, they will then continue with other diaspora communities, such as Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East , among other.
One of her three works presented was about Romanian Nina Smart, who escaped genital mutilation, a practice that occurs and affects more than 200 million women in Africa and around the world. "I thought it was important to tell her story because she is working on this and even right here in the United States there are immigrant communities, not just Africans who quietly practice this and I needed to bring this to the forefront."
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