Forward Scoops 6 Deadline Club Nominations

By Anne Cohen April 18, 2014

MAGIC MENSCH from Jewish Daily Forward on Vimeo.

The Jewish Daily Forward has been selected among the finalists in the Deadline Club’s 2014 Annual Awards Contest, representing excellence in journalism from print newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the Internet. The record six nominations included pieces in news, arts and opinion.

Josh Nathan-Kazis received two nominations, in the “Reporting Newspaper with a Circulation under 100,000” and “Newspaper or Digital Local News Reporting” categories, for his series on federal e-rate subsidies in Orthodox schools.

Larry Mayer, Simi Horwitz and Nate Lavey were nominated for “Arts Reporting” — Mayer for his two-part longform essay recounting his experiences as a teacher in an Orthodox boy’s school, and Horwitz with Lavey for “A New Generation of Jewish Magicians.” Lavey’s “Magic Mensch” is the Forward’s first video nomination to the Deadline awards.

Editor-in-chief Jane Eisner and columnist Jay Michaelson both received nominations for opinion writing.

The Deadline Club called 2014 its “most competitive year yet.” There were more than 80 judges and 547 entries.

The Associated Press and the New York Times topped the list with eight nominations each. Pro-Publica received seven nominations, while the Forward and Newsday tied for six. Other nominees included the Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, Reuters, Vanity Fair, ABC, CNN and WYNC.

Forward publisher Sam Norich lauded the achievement, noting that the Forward is joined on the list by some of the biggest names in media.

“Talk about punching above our weight,” Norich said. “Getting six finalist nominations from our professional peers in the most competitive media market in the U.S. is an amazing recognition for our editor, Jane Eisner (herself one of the finalists,) and our entire team at the Forward.”

The Forward received one nomination in 2013, for Josh Nathan-Kazis’ series investigating Jewish cemeteries. In previous years, the Forward has won Deadline Club awards for opinion writing and reporting.

The winners of each of the 31 categories will be announced on May 19, at the Annual Awards Dinner held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. This year’s speakers include Jeff Zucker, President of CNN Worldwide, who will be interviewed by Bill Carter of the New York Times.

This article was amended on April 22 to reflect the distribution of authorship for the Jewish magician nomination.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

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