MEDIA CONTACT:
Odette Keeley
NAM Awards Chair
okeeley@newamericamedia.org

Distinguished Judges Evaluate Over 100 Entries for NAM Ethnic Media Awards for NorCal and Central Valley!

NAM is pleased to announce we received an impressive 112 award entries for our 2011/2012 Ethnic Media Awards for Northern California and the Central Valley Awards. The entries came from a wide array of ethnic and youth media outlets in the region, serving Latino, African-American, Middle Eastern, and Asian communities, including Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Hmong and South Asian groups.

We are honored to have a distinguished roster of close to 30 judges from a variety of media outlets and organizations who evaluated these outstanding entries, including our very own veteran NAM editors and ethnic media monitors. These judges are recognized experts and leaders in their respective fields.

Our esteemed judges will join us as we salute the outstanding journalism work of ethnic and youth media outlets in the region for the past year, during our much-awaited Awards Gala, co-hosted by KQED at their San Francisco studios on July 19, 2012 at 5:30 pm. We are also honored to have Bay Area journalism icon and the multi-awarded TV host of KQED's "This Week in Northern California," Belva Davis, as our Awards Gala emcee and honoree.

Look out for future announcements with more details on how to register to attend the gala.

NAM Awards Judges Roster:

Cristina Azocar - Director, Center for Integration & Improvement of Journalism [CIIJ]; Asst. Prof. of Journalism, San Francisco State University

Jim Bettinger - Director, John S. Knight Fellowships, Stanford University

Louis Freedberg - Executive Director, EdSource

Michael Isip - Vice-President, Television, KQED 

George Koo - Member, Pacific Council for International Policy; Former Director, Chinese Services Group, Deloitte & Touche USA

Claudia Mendoza-Carruth - Board President, La Luz; multicultural communications professional

Susan Mernit - Founder, Oakland Local

Thomas Peele - Digital Investigative Reporter Bay Area News Group/The Chauncey Bailey Project

Raul Ramirez - Executive Director, News & Public Affairs, KQED Radio

Susan Rasky - Sr. Lecturer, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Martin Reynolds - Senior Editor - Community Engagement, Bay Area News Group

Joseph Rodriguez - Documentary Photographer

Richard Rodriguez - Award-winning Essayist/Commentator

Charles Shepler - Manager, Programming - Comcast Hometown Network

Michael Stoll - Executive Director, San Francisco Public Press

Pueng Vongs - Online Editor/ Writer, Yahoo!

Joan Walsh - Editor-at-Large, Salon.com; and Political Analyst, MSNBC

Yumi Wilson - Acting Department Chair and Adviser, Journalism Department, San Francisco State University

Bernice Yeung - Reporter, CA Watch & the Center for Investigative Reporting [CIR]

Please see more information below:

ABOUT KQED:
KQED (kqed.org) has served Northern California for more than 50 years and is affiliated with NPR and PBS. KQED owns and operates public television stations KQED 9 (San Francisco/Bay Area), KQED Plus (San Jose/Bay Area) and KQET 25 (Watsonville/Monterey); KQED Public Radio (88.5 FM San Francisco and 89.3 FM Sacramento); the interactive platforms kqed.org and KQEDnews.org; and KQED Education. KQED Public Television is the producer of local and national series such as QUEST; Check, Please! Bay Area; This Week in Northern California; Truly CA; and Essential Pépin. KQED's digital television stations include KQED 9, KQED Plus, KQED Life, KQED World, KQED Kids and KQED V-me, and are available 24/7 on Comcast. KQED Public Radio, home of Forum and The California Report, is one of the most-listened-to public radio stations in the nation with an award-winning news and public affairs program service delivering more than eighteen local weekday newscasts and news features. KQED Interactive provides KQED's cross-platform news service, KQEDnews.org, as well as several popular local blogs, video and audio podcasts and a live radio stream at kqed.org. KQED Education brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents and the general public through workshops, community screenings and multimedia resources.