I am happy to report that we are ready to announce some of the honorees for the very first WMC Media Awards — and that you’re invited to celebrate them on June 17 here in New York City.

As you know, the WMC has spent a considerable amount of our four years of existence pointing out what’s wrong with the media — mostly summed up in the category of “excluding women and people of color.” But despite the obstacles in their way, many women have made extraordinary contributions-and we feel it’s high time we recognized their good work.

Of course, we wouldn’t be the WMC if we didn’t point out a few remaining problems-so we have also singled out some areas of serious shortcomings on the part of executives who run the media. We continue to work hard to make sure media includes all stories and voices.

 But, let’s begin with our choices for approbation:

Print and Broadcast Journalists

Helene Cooper (far left, assigned to the White House for The New York Times) gives us consistently intelligent reports and has demonstrated cool competence over a lengthy career covering a range of domestic and international stories.

Candy Crowley (immediate left, CNN) was the clear and probing political correspondent of a contentious election. Day after day she demonstrated the delicate balance between reporting and analysis that never veered into opinion.

Christiane Amanpour (right, CNN) the dean of international correspondents, this year gave us an enlightened view of religion and its impact around the world.

Online Journalists

Rebecca Traister (immediate right, Salon.com) was a consistently articulate essayist in a series of pieces that dealt with the year of our presidential race and Hillary Clinton’s fate in it. Her beat is women, media (and the world) and she covers it expertly.

Pam Spaulding (far right, Pam’s House Blend) created a website that gives the LGBT community a strong, insightful voice — and a center of action.  She has also been honored with “Best LGBT Blog” in the 2005 and 2006 Weblog Awards.

Broadcast Hosts

Bonnie Erbe (far left, To The Contrary, PBS) has, for 18 years, provided a forum for women’s voices analyzing the most important topics of the day.  Her contribution has been immeasurable in the face of mainstream media’s exclusion of women.

Rachel Maddow (immediate left, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC) is an incisive progressive -- smart and funny with a way of getting to the point a lot sooner than most. Her success in prime time television paves the way for others.

Documentary Film

Abigail Disney (immediate right) & Gini Reticker (far right, Pray The Devil Back To Hell).  If ever we needed an example of the inherent power of women, Abby and Gini give it to us – this award winning documentary follows the market women of Liberia — who exiled a president, and installed Africa’s first woman President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Theatre

Lynn Nottage (Ruined) won a Pulitzer for her dramatic portrayal of what rape in the Congo has created in women’s lives. Still, more than a thousand women a day are the victims of these war crimes.  We’ve chosen Lynn for her gifted use of breaking news about women in a dramatic piece.

Entertainment

Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC) Creator, writer, producer and actor of a hit, Emmy-winning show on prime time television — and the satiric embodiment of Sara Palin on Saturday Night Live — this was the year of Tina Fey in entertainment television. 

And now for the “dishonorable” awards for some of the year’s most sexist media moments, including:

• The Presidential debate commission’s decision not to have women as moderators of the final Presidential debates
• Media executives for failing to create a diverse White House press corps
• The networks for the lack of diversity among the hosts of the Sunday morning pundit shows.

We hope you’ll join us on June 17 to celebrate our honorees — we’ll be updating to let you know who’s attending. These awards were chosen based purely on merit — not the ability to attend. We know — it’s unusual! The party will be fun. Our host for the evening is Elizabeth A. Sackler and the awards will be presented by WMC co-founder Gloria Steinem.

See you there!

Best,

Carol Jenkins
WMC President