Nominations now open for the 2022 Community Media Awards
(CHICAGO)—Nominations for the 27th Annual Community Media Awards are now open through March 15. The event will take place online Thursday, May 12, 2022.
Since 1994, the Community Media Awards have honored over 90 journalists whose work is driven by service and connection to their communities. This will be the second year in a row the event has taken place online.
“Who is out there telling stories that represent your neighborhood, your experiences? This is the award for them,” said Mareva Lindo, Public Narrative’s Director of Media Engagement. “We want to celebrate storytelling that centers Chicago communities.”
Click here to nominate someone for the Terkel Award, Uplifting Voices Award, or Ripple Effect Award before March 15.
At left: writer and oral historian Studs Terkel with multimedia journalist and Terkel awardee Laura Washington.
The Studs Terkel Community Media Award recognizes a body of work, rather than a single article or series. Named for Chicago radio, television, and storytelling legend Louis “Studs” Terkel, the award is open to any Chicago-area journalist on any platform, at any stage in their career. Candidates must demonstrate quality journalism, authentic storytelling and be exemplary when it comes to Terkel’s gift of elevating people’s voices above power. Once chosen by Studs himself, today the Terkel Awards are chosen by a committee of past winners. Past honorees include Teresa Puente, Natalie Moore, and Brandis Friedman.
For the second year in a row, Public Narrative is opening up nominations to the public for the Uplifting Voices Award and Ripple Effect Award. Begun in 2014, the Uplifting Voices Award is presented to a person--journalist or otherwise--who elevates the voices of people in communities in their work. The Ripple Effect Award, begun in 2019, is granted to a journalist anywhere in the U.S. whose work has had an impact in Chicago and beyond. Nominations will be evaluated and selected by members of the Public Narrative team. Past Uplifting Voices Awardees include Aurie Pennick, Kevin Coval, and Tonika Lewis-Johnson. Past Ripple Effect Awardees include Nikole Hannah-Jones and Jamie Kalven.
Go to publicnarrative.org/awards to see a list of past winners, and to nominate candidates for this year’s Community Media Awards.