Hadassah Magazine wins 12 Rockower awards

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is proud to announce that Hadassah Magazine has received 12 Rockower awards, more than any other publication (magazine, newspaper or website) and more than all other magazines combined. Nine of the 12 awards were for first place. This is the second year in a row Hadassah Magazine has received the most awards. 

The Simon Rockower Award, sometimes referred to as the “Jewish Pulitzers,” is an award given for “Excellence in Jewish Journalism.” The award is sponsored by the American Jewish Press Association (AJPA), a professional organization of Jewish newspapers, magazines, journalists and affiliated organizations in the United States. Judges for the awards are generally journalists from mainstream publications and occasionally a former editor of a Jewish publication. 

The Rockower Awards were inaugurated in the early 1980s to provide incentive to Jewish media to improve their publications and to promote quality Jewish journalism. Hadassah magazine has won more than 325 of these awards over the years, and it was the first Jewish publication ever nominated for a national magazine award, in 1993.

This year’s prizes will be formally announced and presented at the Rockower Awards Banquet in conjunction with the 2014 AJPA Annual Conference.

Below is the list of the Rockower Awards presented to Hadassah Magazine:

Second place award for a personal essay: “Blood Libel on Main Street” by Shirley Reva Vernick

First place award for feature writing: “Awe & Memory: the Yom Kippur War” by Esther Hecht, David W. Weiss, Yehoshua Sivan, Barbara Goldstein and Rochelle Furstenberg

Second place award for feature writing: “Little Big Land” by David W. Weiss

First place award for arts and criticism news and features (critical analysis/review): “Herod Revisited” by Esther Hecht

First place award for arts and criticism news and features (reporting): “Contractual Beauty” by Jenna Weissman Joselit

First place award for writing about healthcare: “Israel’s AIDS Model” by Wendy Elliman

First place award for writing about women: “Pascale Bercovitch” by Leora Eren Frucht

First place award for overall graphic design: April/May 2013, August/September 2013, December 2013 Issues by Jodie Berzin Rossi

First place award for graphic design: April/May 2014 Issue by Michael Chelbin

First place award for illustrating and/or editorial cartoon: April/May, August/September, December 2013 Issues by Grauert, Shadmi, Streeter, Wertz, Thompson, Nayberg and Morri

First place award for photography: June/July 2013 Issue by Elin Schoen Brockman 

Second place award for personality profiles: “Letty Cottin Pogrebin” by Rahel Musleah