PUBLIC MEDIA SHINES WITH “GRACIE AWARDS”

On Tuesday (3/28) the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) announced the winners of the 42nd annual Gracie Awards.  The awards will be presented at the Gracie Awards Gala on Tuesday, June 6^th at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Local and student award winners will be recognized at the Gracie Awards Luncheon on June 27^th at Cipriani in New York City.

Information and a complete list of winners are available here.

At the June 6^th event, AWMF will recognize Samantha Bee, America Ferrera, Drew Barrymore, Mariska Hargitay and Savannah Guthrie.

Noncom public media organizations did very, very well in the “non luminary” categories such as radio news, podcasts and student awards. By my informal count, noncoms won 23 of the 39 (59%) categories. NPR entries led the noncoms with 6 awards. WNYC Studios won 3; American Public Media won 2 and station winners included KCRW, WFUV, WUNC's The State of Things and Vermont Public Radio.

Regarding entries from commercial media, Cumulus Media won four awards and iHeartMedia won three. The Gracie Awards recognize outstanding achievements across new and traditional media platforms.

BEST OF THE BEST: THREE NOTABLE WINNERS FROM PUBLIC MEDIA SHOPS

Karen Foshay, Reporter & Correspondent,

“KCRW Investigates: Burned”

Burned is a limited series of investigative reports heard on KCRW, Los Angeles and is available as podcasts [link]. 

In 2016 Foshay’s reported about the conditions and compensation of workers in the LA restaurant industry.

Foshay spoke with dozens of restaurant workers, labor lawyers, and government enforcers, and sifted through thousands of public records concerning Los Angeles-area restaurants. 

She learned that restaurant workers too often are abused and ripped-off. Here is a telling statement from her report:

Restaurant kitchens are full of knives, ovens, pots of boiling water.  But if someone gets hurt they might have to keep on working.

Do you seek absolutely “must hear” audio? Try this: Burned published a list of the top 20 restaurants with the highest number of judgments and decisions against them [link]. Perhaps you might reconsider having dinner tonight at Mandarin Cuisine in WEHO.

Leila Fadel, NPR International Correspondent, Cairo

News Feature: “Two Little Bombs”

Leila tells the story of a mother in Egypt who is raising two teenagers. 

The kids are dealing with conflicting messages: Rebellious western culture and Islamic fundamentalism. 

Here is one line from Fadel’s story:

She realized none of them [her kids] was coping well, so she was happy when four years ago, the oldest girls sought guidance from a religious group that proselytized from a tent in their impoverished neighborhood. 

Maybe faith could help them.

You can hear it here.

Rebecca Lewis, Fordham University

Podcast: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”

This piece is an amazing change of pace from the day-to-day concerns of the world. Lewis takes the listener on a joyous trip into the night sky. She travels to distant solar systems and avoids black holes as she ponders whether there is life “out there.”

Ultimately, she reflects on planet Earth fits into the great unknown. Dig this sample line:

Please just tell us that after almost 14 billion years, humans are not all there is. We're kind of a mess. Gotta rep planet Earth.

When you look at that night sky, it's hard not to think about what else is out there… So we blasted off among the stars to get some answers about what's going on and why young people care. Live long and prosper.

You can hear it here.