Dear Colleagues,

YOU ARE INVITED to be our guest at a special free Ethnic Media lunch at UMass Boston on Monday July 24 at 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to meet with me and Sandy Close, founder of the national nonprofit ethnic media organization, New America Media, and learn how you might win a special ethnic media "Pulitzer Prize" worth $1,000.

If you are proud of your role in the community, and the work you do to inform people, this is a moment for you to be honored. The deadline for the awards has been extended to July 30. If you can come to the lunch, we will walk you through the application process and explain why this is such an important opportunity for all of us who care about the role of ethnic media in America.

If you will join us July 24 please let us know ASAP by return email to ellen.hume@umb.edu or phone, 617 2887 6798. We look forward to seeing you! The lunch is in the Bay View Conference Room, room 3540, where we have met many times before, on the 3rd floor of the campus center at UMass Boston.

Whether you are coming to the lunch or not, you are encouraged to begin immediately to get your application ready for the First National Ethnic Media Awards! These are informally called the ethnic media "Pulitzer Prizes" (although there is no formal relationship to the Pulitzers) There are eleven categories, and the winners will receive $1,000. There will be a nationally recognized event to honor the winners at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC on 14 November 2006. If you win, we will work to get funding for your trip to Washington to receive the award. There is a small entry fee ($25) but if you have difficulty providing that talk to me and we might be able to help you.

Here's how it will work: New America Media has asked our UMass Boston Ethnic Media Project to help solicit and forward these submissions in order to get good representation from the New England region. In addition, some members of our executive board have been invited to serve as judges for the national competition. (Judges, of course, cannot come from the organizations that are submitting work for consideration; the idea is to be sure New England is treated with proper respect!). Sandy Close, who founded New America Media (www.newamericamedia.org), is coming to Boston just to meet with us on July 24 in order to be sure we have enough entries.

As you will see when you connect to the award nomination website below, there are eleven award categories for print media, and another four for broadcast media, covering the full range of the Ethnic Media's work, from general investigative reporting to reporting on Katrina, from commentary and editorial writing to coverage of arts, sports, and entertainment, from international reporting to advocacy journalism, from youth voices to women's issues. Work in all languages is welcome for consideration. Work sent in English will be judged separately, so that the work in different languages will have just as much chance as that sent in English.

The deadline for submissions is SOON—30 July. All juries are independent, selected to insure that there are no conflicts of interest. New American Media has made the application process simple, so it should be easy for you to apply. If you need any help with any part of the application process, you will get help at the lunch or otherwise please let us know and we will try to help you through the process. This is a non-profit effort, so no one is making any money on this except the winners, of course.

Here is the main link to the Awards info (online submission form available here too).

Here are samples of past award-winning stories.

Here is a video that wraps up last year's event.

NOTE: Everyone who participates from New England will receive a special certificate from UMass Boston if you send a copy of your entry to us. The Ethnic Media Project's Award of Merit for the Best of Ethnic Media in New England will use the same form. To apply for this regional recognition, just send a copy of what you are also sending to New America Media for the national award contest. Send it to Ellen Hume, ellen.hume@umb.edu, or by mail, Ellen Hume, Director, Center on Media and Society, Wheatley 6-086, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125-3393.