An editor friend just contacted me to congratulate me on my award. I was surprised, as I had no idea I was up for an award, let alone that I had won. It turns out a feature of mine won honorable mention at the 2021 Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism—part of the American Jewish Press Association—in the monthly newspapers and magazines category of “Award for Excellence in Arts News and Features—Reporting (movie, theater, television, books, music, etc.).”
Here are the details from the AJPA site:
Honorable Mention
Hadassah Magazine, New York, NY“A Night at the museum for all” by Menachem Wecker
Comment: Thank you for sharing why and how some are working to create welcoming spaces for people of all abilities...and reminding us that there is much more to be done.
The magazine feature, which ran in the Jan./Feb. 2020 issue of Hadassah, addresses accessibility and inclusion programs at U.S. Jewish and Holocaust museums. I write in the piece:
Almost 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the nation’s Jewish and Holocaust museums offer a wide, if uneven, range of programs for visitors with varying disabilities. Of the 50-some institutions that Hadassah Magazine contacted, roughly half responded. Some described extensive initiatives that went far beyond fundamentals like fully ADA-compliant buildings and Braille captions. Others—the least-funded, typically—only had elevators and audio tours.
I really did contact about 50 institutions to ask what, if any, programs they had. It was interesting to see the variety, which often seemed correlated to institutional resources and size.
This is the first Jewish journalism award I’ve won of which I’m aware since writing for 18 years (a nice Jewish number; it corresponds with chai/life) for Jewish publications, largely on art. Along the way, I’ve been awarded more than half a dozen times by the Catholic Press Association, so better late than never?
On the other hand, as Tevye would say…
Congratulations!
Kudos! Much deserved.