NWPC celebrated the 2016 Exceptional Merit in Media Awards (EMMAs) on May 16,2016 at the American Foreign Service Association in DC.
The year’s EMMAs featured a lively and engaging night of presentations, stories, audio & video clips showcasing journalists and media outlets that have shown excellence in their media coverage on issues of importance to women and girls.
Accolades to our NWPC Board & EMMAs event team: Marguerite Cooper who served as chair and coordinated judging & submissions, Jen Myronuk, our EMMAs producer who led from behind-the-scenes, produced/directed our evening’s program & coordinated with speakers and awardees to feature their work as a core part of our event, Alexa DeJesus, our programs coordinator who worked on event logistics, outreach and volunteer coordination, Deidre Malone, who promoted our event through PR and outreach, Paris O’Conor Bienert who led our submissions and helped with outreach, and Sharon Hill who provided development support. Big thanks to our volunteers Grace Maliska, Kevin O’Brien, Maddie Black and to Nicole Hughes & Jen Myronuk for photographing + documenting the event.
Special thanks to our exceptional judging panel:
Yolanda Becerra-Jones, Arlene Notoro Morgan, Karen O’Connor, Lisa Matthews & Dr. Lauren Weis.
Thanks to our sponsors and supporters: NWPC-CA, NWPC Foundation, Parity Immersive, AFSA, Shaloma Shawmut-Lessner, Marguerite Cooper, and Donna Lent. In addition to her EMMAs sponsorship, we also want to thank Jen Myronuk for financially sponsoring Sissy Farenthold to attend the EMMAs as our keynote speaker.
Our event commenced with the comedic observations by host and emcee Dhaya Lakshminarayanan,
recipient of this year’s Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award.
An event highlight was screening a clip from the EMMA award-winning documentary Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold: A Noble Citizen followed by a powerful and moving keynote speech by Sissy Farenthold who presented her thoughts on the state of human rights and the role of the media.
EMMA PROGRAM & AWARD WINNERS:
Sarah Mervosh & Diane Jennings for their interactive documentary series Deadly Affection, Dallas Morning News;
With special recognition to Marie Claire for featuring and publishing vital issues facing women including Julie Weingarden Dubin for “#Hunted” & Kayla Webley for sex trafficking series including “Crude Awakening” and “A Tribe’s Quest”; and Alexandra Robbins for “Mean Girls of the ER”; with an acceptance speech by Alexandra Robbins, sharing her perspective of female-to-female power dynamics in nursing and across all industries.
PURCHASE Alexandra Robbins book Nurses through NWPC’s Amazon link and support our org.
Raina Lipsitz for “On Women’s Rights: Feminist Columns in Al Jazeera America,” Al Jazeera America;
Kimberlé Crenshaw for “The Girls that Obama Forgot,” New York Times, accepted by Barbara Arnwine President & Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition;
Jenny Starrs for “Women in Politics: How the US Compares With The World,” the GroundTruth Project, OPC Foundation;
Karen Engle, Joe Bailey, Jr. & Susan Richardson for Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold: A Noble Citizen – an online multimedia exhibition produced by the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights at the University of Texas School of Law;
Bryce Covert for “Why America Gave Up On The Fight For A Family-Friendly Workplace, And Why It’s Starting Again,” Think Progress;
Our first annual Lifetime Achievement Award to Marguerite Cooper for her work in the American Foreign Service and her work as a diplomat and president of the Women’s Action Organization;.
Robin Hauser Reynolds received the NWPC President’s Award for her groundbreaking documentary film Code: Debugging the Gender Gap;.
Molly Redden for “This Is How Judges Humiliate Pregnant Teens Who Want Abortions,” The Guardian;
Roxane Gay for the New York Times best-selling book Bad Feminist; (Harper Collins)
PURCHASE Roxane Gay’s book Bad Feminist through NWPC’s Amazon link and support our org.
The event also featured a special presentation from Sherrill Mulhern, President of the NWPC Foundation. The NWPC Foundation held a small fundraiser by selling “pins & mugs” — Rosie The Riveter mugs can be purchased here.
The EMMAs event archive, including audio podcasts and select video clips will be made available on the NWPC website. Due to technical difficulties, the livestream was canceled.
