The Front Page Awards
Betsy Pisik at the 2010 Front Page Awards Gala
Each year the Newswomen's Club of New York honors the best journalism by women in the New York Metropolitan area for their work in print, wires, broadcast and online media with the Front Page Awards. The submissions deadline for entries has now passed.
See the 2011 Front Page Awards Winners.
This year's winners were feted at the club's annual black-tie gala on Nov. 10, at the Downtown Association in Manhattan.
The Club's Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Sue Simmons, the lead female news anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980. The Reporter of the Year Award went to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo for her continuing coverage of the financial crisis.
Check back for photos of the event.
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FRONT PAGE AWARDS 2010
Edie Lederer, Dan Rather and Toni Reinhold at the Front Page Awards
Congratulations to the winners of this year's Front Page Awards. They were honored at the Newswomen's Club's annual black-tie awards gala at the Downtown Association November 4.
Dan Rather was on hand to present Edie Lederer with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Paul Steiger presented Gretchen Morgensen with the Reporter of the Year Award.
For additional photos of the Front Page Awards Gala, please visit the club's Facebook page.
Pioneering Women War Correspondents
"Pioneering Women War Correspondents" profiles six trailblazing women journalists, including Peggy Hull, Martha Gellhorn, Marguerite Higgins and Dickey Chapelle, who managed to report from the front lines. Author Penny Colman narrates. Produced by Milena Jovanovitch. Log in to see photos of our panel event on our members-only blog.
Newswomen’s Club Condemns NYPD Obstruction and Arrests of Journalists Covering Occupy Wall Street; Calls for Investigation
New York, November 16, 2011 - The Newswomen’s Club of New York condemns the New York City Police Department’s obstruction, mistreatment, detention and arrest of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street and is calling on the City Council and the NYPD to investigate allegations of misconduct and abuse of power by the NYPD.
The NYPD’s actions against journalists are a violation of First Amendment rights guaranteeing freedom of speech and of the press. Harassment of the press has been escalating since the OWS movement began, and intensified on November 15 when police cleared protestors out of Zuccotti Park.
Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s defense that police acted “to prevent a situation from getting worse and to protect members of the press,” by many accounts journalists needed protection from the police.
Journalists and news organizations have reported that as police cleared the OWS camp on Tuesday many journalists were blocked from observing and documenting the event and interviewing protesters. This limited accounts of what occurred to those of the NYPD and demonstrators.
News stories cite journalists being manhandled, arrested and denied access by police. The Times cited NY1 reporter Lindsey Christ as saying police officers took a New York Post reporter standing near her and “threw him in a choke-hold.” Journalists reported that press credentials issued by the NYPD were not honored. At least four journalists were handcuffed and led away from OWS sites around the city. Among those arrested: New York Daily News reporter Matthew Lysiak, National Public Radio freelance reporter Julie Walker, Associated Press reporter Karen Matthews and AP photographer Seth Wenig, DNAinfo freelance photographer Paul Lomax and the news website’s Editor Patrick Hedlund. Other journalists tweeted that they came close to being arrested.
NBC reported on its website that during the raid, journalists who identified themselves as working for the New York Post and New York Daily News were pushed by police, along with NBC New York’s Chris Glorioso. NBC reported that when asked why the press was not being allowed to document the event, an NYPD official said "right now this is where you guys are allowed tobe.”Using the hashtag #mediablackout, journalists tweeted throughout the raid about their encounters with police.
NBC reported that New York Times reporter Brian Stelter tweeted that a Post reporter said he was "roughed up" by police, and NY 1 Education reporter Lindsey Christ tweeted that journalists were being "thrown to ground and pushed to wall if they get in front of the wrong officer." Mother Jones reporter Josh Harkinson tweeted that police "violently shoved me away" as he tried to photograph a man on a stretcher. The New York Observer tweeted "here with credentialed photogs from NYT, WSJ and Reuters they're also being barred from #occupywallstreet."
It is an outrage that journalists in New York City are not being allowed to document news events of local, national and international interest. We call on New York City to end this abuse and obstruction of the free press that is so essential to our democracy.
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