70 Faces Media won 27 awards, including 18 first- and second-place prizes, in the annual Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism, awarded on Thursday night.
The honors went to several sites under the 70 Faces umbrella, which includes the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, New York Jewish Week, Kveller, My Jewish Learning, The Nosher and Hey Alma.
The awards were presented Thursday at the American Jewish Press Association’s annual conference, held this year in New York City at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. The awards were for work in 2025.
(JR), competing against other web-based outlets, won first place in 10 categories. The winners included Asaf Elia-Shalev for social justice and humanitarian reporting as well as personality profiles; Joseph Strauss for health care reporting; and Andrew Lapin for reporting about seniors.
Israel correspondent Deborah Danan also took home first place for Zionism, Aliyah and Israel reporting, and Rachel Ringler won first place for food and wine reporting.
A team of (JR) opinion writers — Asher Butler, Hannah Castillo and Tal Luigi — also shared a first place award for excellent in single commentary, and Claire Sufrin won first place for excellence in personal essay.
(JR) also received six second-place awards, including Asaf Elia-Shalev for Jewish philanthropy reporting, Shira Li Bartov for Jewish Heritage and Jewish Peoplehood in Europe reporting and Andrew Lapin for North American Jewish history reporting.
The New York Jewish Week also scored honors, with Avital Dayanim winning first place for outstanding accomplishments as a graphic artist and Andrew Silow-Carroll winning an honorable mention for personality profiles. Jackie Hajdenberg also won two second-place awards for education reporting and writing about Jewish thought and life.
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