The Media Awards recognize print journalists who do an exemplary job of illuminating the affordable housing crisis in the United States. The awards will honor first-prize winners with a $2,500 prize. Winners will be recognized during a reception on April 20, 2009 in Washington, DC.

Entries must be published between January 1 and December 31, 2008. The deadline to submit articles is February 16, 2009. Journalists may nominate their own work or readers may submit articles directly. Entries are limited to articles and editorials published in a publication intended for the general public. Housing industry publications including real estate, construction, resident and other housing-related publications are not eligible for consideration.

Please consider informing your members at CCNMA about the Media Awards by including a notice in a newsletter, sending an email announcement to your membership and/or including a link on your website to information about the Media Awards.

The goal of the Cushing Niles Dolbeare Media Awards is to recognize print journalists who make a dedicated effort to inform the public about the inequities in housing and to add to the understanding of the disparities between the well-housed and the poorly or un-housed in a community, and to encourage journalists who do not normally cover low income housing issues to do so.

The awards are named in honor of the late Cushing N. Dolbeare, long-time housing advocate and founder of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). NLIHC is committed to raising awareness about the situation of low income individuals who lack access to safe and affordable homes and solutions. The awards are made possible by a grant from Andre Shashaty, the former editor-in-chief of Affordable Housing Finance Magazine.

More information, including rules and entry form, can be found here:   www.nlihc.org/CNDMA

For additional information, please contact me or Taylor Materio, Communications Associate, NLIHC, 202-662-1530 x. 227,   taylor@nlihc.org.

The Mike Berger Award, honors in-depth and enterprising reporting on individuals in the tradition of the late Meyer "Mike" Berger. Berger, who died in 1959, was a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. His "About New York" column in the 1950s set the standard for thought-provoking human-interest reporting about the lives of ordinary people. For the first time all newspaper reporters across the country are eligible whether they report for dailies, weeklies or monthlies or newspaper magazines. Members of the ethnic press should submit copies of original stories with an English translation. Entries will be judged by members of the faculty. The deadline to apply is March 6, 2009. The award, which consists of a certificate and a $1,000 cash prize, will be conferred at the school's graduation ceremony in May.