Chabad.org Wins Four Journalism Awards in Annual Jewish Press Competition

The American Jewish Press Association wrapped up its annual conference last week in New Orleans with one of the highlights being the annual awards banquet, where Jewish media outlets receive recognition for their work over the course of the year.

Chabad.org earned four awards in Simon Rockower Awards Competition for Excellence in Jewish Journalism for stories published in 2022, including three first-place honors.

Now in its 42nd year, the Rockowers are seen as the gold standard of journalism in the Jewish world.

Staff writer Menachem Posner earned first place for Excellence in Photography for the story, “Bronx Jews Respond to Tragic High-Rise Fire With Meals and Encouragement.” It described and visually depicted the New York’s Jewish community response to a deadly fire that killed 19 and injured 63 tore through a high-rise apartment building in the Bronx, N.Y. on the morning of Jan. 9, 2022.

Staff writer Mendel Super won first place for Excellence in News Obituaries for his Feb. 15 write-up on “Legendary Rebbetzin Chave Hecht, 95, Life-Long Woman of Action.” It described her decades of teaching as she headed a family of 12 children, and the loss of such a beloved asset to the Jewish community in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Freelance writer Selah Maya Zighelboim received first place for Excellence in Writing About Sports for her Dec. 1 story on college sophomore and running back Sam Salz, titled “An Observant Jew Makes for an Uncommon Texas A&M Football Player.”

And freelance writer Yehuda Mayteles got an honorable mention for Excellence in News Obituaries for his Jan. 16 story on “Reb Michel Raskin, 92, Brooklyn Grocer Embodied Chassidic Values.” Raskin survived Stalinist oppression and World War II to become an iconic bridge between Chassidic life in Soviet Russia and the United States.

The awards were handed out at the banquet on July 11. Since 2014, the first year the news team entered the contest, Chabad.org has won a total of 19 Rockower Awards for its coverage of events, incidents and individuals in Jewish communities around the world.