Forward Takes Home a Record 13 Rockower Awards
The Forward swept the 30th Simon Rockower awards Wednesday night, winning a record 13 awards, including nine first-place honors that recognized journalistic excellence in every section of the weekly newspaper and the overall quality of its website, forward.com.
The awards, honoring the best Jewish journalism published in 2010, were presented by the American Jewish Press Association at its annual conference, held this year in Dallas. Leaders of Jewish newspapers and magazines from around the country attended.
The awards were judged by an independent panel of journalists convened by the AJPA. The Forward competed against newspapers with more than 15,000 circulation.
“These awards are especially gratifying because they affirm the exceptional breadth and depth of the Forward’s journalism and recognize the hard work of a dedicated and talented staff,” said Editor Jane Eisner.
The work by Art Director Kurt Hoffman and Deputy Art Director Richard Harrington won top honors in two categories — overall design and best front page. Forward.com, led by Gabrielle Birkner, director of digital media, won first place for outstanding website.
The other first-place awards honored for excellence in:
• Editorial Writing, “Faith at Ground Zero,” by Jane Eisner
• Photography, “The Last Shtetl Jews of Belarus,” by Diana Markosian
• Personality Profiles, “The World Cup Winner,” by Dan Friedman
• Special Sections, “Abraham Cahan,” edited by Lillian Swanson and Dan Friedman
• Single Commentary, “When the Slumlords are Us,” by Jill Jacobs
• Health Writing, “C-Sections: A Birthing Debate Divides New Moms,” by Sarah Wildman
Josh Nathan-Kazis won two second-place awards, one for comprehensive coverage for the series, “The Cost of Belonging,” and the other for a profile, “The Leading Jew in Labor Wears Pearls.” A.J. Goldmann won second-place in news reporting for his story, “At the Death Camps, Muslim Leaders Grapple With Jews’ Pain.” Joshua Furst’s review of “The Merchant of Venice” won a second-place award for his story, “Al Pacino’s Pain.”.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 2
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.