Awards

The arts and culture magazine BOMB was awarded a $138,000 grant from The Andrew. W. Mellon Foundation to support a three-year initiative that includes the ongoing digitization of The BOMB Digital Archive and its transformation into a fully indexed, searchable online database that will be made available to scholars, students, and the public at large free of charge.

BOMB’s publisher, editor-in-chief, and co-founder, Betsy Sussler, states, “We are grateful for this chance to increase our commitment to the innovative delivery of the artist’s voice, to substantial engagement with a committed audience, and to a history of creative expression.”

With additional funding of $50,500 from Mellon, BOMB will launch an initiative to secure digital permissions for content previously published in its pages.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

Samuel Aranda’s fantastic photo from Yemen has been selected by World Press Photo as its 2011 picture of the year. Aranda was on a two-month-long assignment for the New York Times when he shot the above photograph of a woman consoling an injured man.

Arnada stumbled upon the pair in a mosque that was converted into a hospital. It was one his first photos taken in Yemen, and he didn’t realize its power until later. “I got back to my place and I saw the photo in the screen and I was like, ‘Wow,’” Aranda told the Times. “The woman is not just crying. It was something more. You can feel that the woman is really strong.”

[Image via The New York Times]

In honor of Black History Month, which begins today, WNYW/Channel 5 anchor Dari Alexander is receiving a special award tonight. 

Alexander has been named the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Award winner.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Award has been presented by the Consulate General of Israel for the past 20 years to individuals and organizations promoting ethnic and cultural understanding.

Each year the State of Israel, with the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, honor those whose work keeps alive Dr. King’s legacy of hope and peace.

In association with this award, the Jewish National Fund will plant trees in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Forest in Israel. Trees have been planted for past honorees including Martin Luther King III, former Mayor David Dinkins, and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte.

There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the Oscars. Some aren’t too happy with the nominations. What else is new?

For those interested in honors to the writers behind various media productions, the 2012 Writers Guild Awards is approaching.

This year’s New York ceremony will be held on Sunday, February 19, 2012 at B.B. King Blues Club. Check out the nominees.

Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live fame, has been tapped to host. A number of celebrities and renowned writers will serve as presenters including: Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames; Late Night host Jimmy Fallon; Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher; 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft; and SNL head writer Seth Meyers.

The award ceremony will also be held simultaneously at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.

FishbowlNY readers rallied behind our poll for the All-Time Anchor Team. No doubt it brought a flood of memories from a bygone era.

Rolland Smith, for example, was the only personality selected for working with three different co-anchors during his 17 years at WCBS/Channel 2: Jim Jensen, Dave Marash, and Michele Marsh.

Here’s the Top 5 countdown of your picks for New York’s All-Time Anchor Team.

5. Rolland Smith and Jim Jensen — 4 percent of the vote. (1975 to 1987)

4. Smith and Michele Marsh — 7 percent (1979 to 1987)

3. Jim Watkins and Kaity Tong — 9 percent (1998 to 2010)

2. Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel — 26 percent (1970 to 1986)

and at number 1….was there really any surprise?

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The tradition continues for Bruce Beck. The WNBC/Channel 4 sportscaster has  been named New York Sportscaster of the Year for a fifth straight year. 

Beck, in his 14th year with WNBC, replaced Len Berman as the station’s main sports anchor in 2009.

Beck will be honored at a gala banquet in June. The event includes NBC’s and MLB Network’s Bob Costas and John Feinstein of the Washington Post being inducted into the National Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

McDonalds has once again named Black Media Legends, several of whom are broadcasters in New York.

This is the 10th year of the program, and for the first time a pair of special awards will be given.

Iconic voice of African Americans, Gil Noble (right) is receiving the McDonald’s Harold Dow Lifetime Achievement Award. Noble was host and producer of Channel 7/WABC’s Like It Is from its inception in 1968 until taking ill last summer.

Tom Joyner, national radio host, heard in New York on KISS FM, has beed named the Hal Jackson Vanguard Award Winner. In addition to being a Hall of Famer radio personality, he is the founder of the Tom Joyner Foundation supporting historically black colleges and universities, and Joyner created of BlackAmericaweb.com.

More award winners after the jump.

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The 2012 recipient of the Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award is Michela O’Connor Abrams, president of Dwell Media.  She will be presented with the award during the fourth annual Women’s Leadership Conference on March 7th in San Francisco.

Most notably during her nine-year tenure at Dwell, O’Connor Abrams conceived the trade show Dwell on Design and helped to develop the brand’s digital platforms, which were recently recognized “#1 Most Innovative” in AffinityResearch’s August 2011 survey.

The award, presented by Exceptional Women in Publishing, recognizes women leaders in publishing and media and past recipients include mediabistro.com’s very own Laurel Touby, Gloria Steinman, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, and Ardath Rodale and Marie Rodale of Rodale, Inc.

Photo courtesy of Dwell Media.

Want to report on an important public interest story, but lack the necessary funds?

The NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute is now accepting applications for “The Reporting Award,” which supports work in any medium about underreported subjects of public interest.

Established in 2009 to encourage ambitious journalism in the midst of financial and staff cuts in media, the award includes a $2,500 stipend, use of the Institute’s facilities, and an additional $10,000 upon completion of the reporting work, which will be published by the Institute or in partnership with another media outlet.

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Tis’ the season for award news. Here’s another one: The Matrix Awards, which honor extraordinary women in the media world, have announced their 2012 honorees. Past winners have included Gloria Steinem, Arianna Huffington and Alice Walker, to name a few. The 2012 honorees are Tyra Banks, Gayle Butler, Glenn Close, Maria Cuomo Cole, Ann Curry, Laura Desmond, Zenia Mucha and Peggy Noonan.

The award ceremony — presented by New York Women Communications — will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria on April 23.

“We are pleased to recognize these eight extraordinary women for their remarkable achievements in communications,” said Catherine Mathis, President of New York Women in Communications. “These individuals, from top executives of worldwide corporations to award-winning journalists and global humanitarians, truly embody the Matrix Awards’ theme and we look forward to honoring them in April.”