(RNF) – Religion News Foundation, the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack College and the William & Mary Greve Foundation are pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Goldziher Prize, a biannual award for excellence in the coverage of Muslim Americans by an individual or team of U.S. journalists.
“We are very pleased to have supported this important award and to recognize journalists doing an excellent job covering Muslim Americans,” said Tom Gallagher, President and CEO, Religion News Foundation.
“We are deeply impressed by the excellent journalism about Muslim Americans,” said Tamar Miller of the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack College. “The beat continues to grow and the Goldziher Prize is a way of celebrating and amplifying this work,” she said.
The winners are as follows:
Audio
Leila Fadel, for Muslims in America: A New Generation, a groundbreaking, six-part series broadcast on National Public Radio. These intimate and surprising stories explore the unseen lives of U.S. Muslims at a time when anti-Islamic sentiment surpasses the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Written Word
Hannah Allam, for a yearlong series of BuzzFeed News articles that captures how external pressures are forcing internal debates among U.S. Muslims. These deeply reported stories, ranging from Here’s What Happens When Someone Burns Down Your Mosque to Inside A Summer Camp Where Kids Figure Out How To Be Muslim In America, reveal a community at once fearful and defiant as violence against Muslims rises.
Video or Photography
Aymann Ismail, for Who’s Afraid of Aymann Ismail?, a video series for Slate Magazine in which Mr. Ismail, a talented young journalist, meets with anti-Muslim activists, state legislators, and his own family to find out if there really is anything to fear about American Muslims.
Journalism Student
Sana Ullah, for Places You’ll Pray, a collection of vibrant images of young American Muslims praying in public spaces outside of a mosque. The series was created by Ms. Ullah as a student at George Washington University, and these photos have since been published in Huffington Post, Fusion, Quartz and other outlets.
Zainab Sultan and Si Chen, for Worthy of Love, a short documentary video produced by students at the Columbia School of Journalism. This is high caliber reporting on critical and taboo issues in Muslim American communities, which combines great storytelling and excellent production values.
“We are thrilled to honor and award the Goldziher Award this year to journalists who have reported on Muslim American communities with professionalism, nuance, sensitivity and depth, inspecting the national faultlines on religion and ethnicity through culturally specific details and engaging storytelling,” said Wajahat Ali, Goldziher Award committee judge.
The award ceremony will be held Thursday, May 2, 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and is open to the public. More information can be found at www.goldziher.org.
Judges for the 2019 Goldziher Prize competition included:
Wajahat Ali, Contributing Op-Ed Writer at The New York Times
Ari Goldman, Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Aysha Khan, Journalist at Religion News Service
Charlie Sykes, Editor-in-Chief at The Bulwark
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About Religion News Foundation
Religion News Foundation (RNF), the parent of Religion News Service, LLC, is an independent, nonprofit educational and charitable foundation affiliated with the University of Missouri School of Journalism, which advances religious literacy through its websites, resources, networks, training seminars, film and events and other programs tailor-made for media professionals, corporate clients and the general public. RNF facilitates and encourages discourse about religion in a neutral and informative way without endorsing or promoting any particular belief system or point of view. See www.religionnewsfoundation.org.
About the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack College
The Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Muslim Relations is dedicated to making Merrimack College the premier undergraduate institution for interfaith dialogue and intercultural education among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Our programs for Merrimack students, faculty and staff, and for our wider audiences beyond the College, are designed to invite and challenge participants to grow in understanding of and respect for the beliefs and practices of diverse religious communities, develop the virtue of compassionate care for religious and cultural minorities, discover calls to ecological justice expressed in the sacred texts and teachings of major religions, discern a personal call to act in solidarity across religious and cultural differences, and adopt practices that advance personal, religious and spiritual growth. See merrimack.edu/academics/centers/jcmr/about.
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