Click here to watch the playback of our 27th Annual Community Media Awards, which took place on Thursday, May 12.
Bob Black, Photojournalist, formerly Chicago Sun-Times & Chicago Defender
Maya Dukmasova, Senior Reporter, Injustice Watch
Jacqueline Serrato, Barrio Journalist & Editor-in-Chief, South Side Weekly
María Inés Zamudio, Reporter, WBEZ
The winner of the 2022 Uplifting Voices Award is:
Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, Chicago Urban Historian & CEO of Chicago Mahogany Tours
The winner of the 2022 Ripple Effect Award is:
Michelle Duster, Author, Professor and Public Historian
Thanks again to our 2022 Community Media Award sponsors, WBEZ and The Public Square. The YouTube playlist linked below also includes individual videos of the winners' speeches, along with introductions by past winners. Please watch and share!
The annual Community Media Awards have been honoring community-centered journalism since 1994. Scroll down to see a list of past winners.
THE STUDS TERKEL AWARD
Louis B. “Studs” Terkel was not just a name to us. He was a mentor and a guiding star, from the founding of the organization in 1989, until he died in 2008. For years, Studs Terkel himself helped choose the recipients of the award and for years, he gracefully and graciously led the annual ceremony. Today the Terkel Award honorees are chosen by the people that Studs recognized for their exceptional journalism: a committee of past Terkel Award winners.
Criteria for the Studs Terkel Community Media Award:
Recognizes a body of work, rather than a single article or series.
Is open to any Chicago-area journalist on any platform at any stage in their career (this can go beyond bylines and include editors, producers or other 'behind-the-scenes' journalists).
Must demonstrate quality journalism, authentic storytelling and be exemplary when it comes to Studs’ gift of elevating people’s voices above power. As Studs said in 2007, the award is meant for journalists who go the extra mile in reporting news “from the people who made Chicago, news that’s bottom up rather than up, down. … That’s what this is all about.” Think of an investigative reporter who brings data to life via real people’s stories, or a radio journalist who tells stories about people you would never have otherwise met.
Recognizes a body of work, rather than a single article or series.
Is open to any Chicago-area artist, activist, writer, musician, educator, journalist, or community leader, on any platform at any stage in their career.
Must demonstrate examples of work that elevates the voices of people in communities. Think of people who use their own platforms, influence or access for the advancement of Chicago communities that are under-resourced and under-heard. Past winners include poets, activists, nonprofit leaders, and journalists.
THE RIPPLE EFFECT AWARD (begun in 2019)
Criteria for the Ripple Effect Award:
Recognizes a body of work, rather than a single article or series.
Is open to any journalist on any platform at any stage in their career (this can go beyond bylines and include editors, producers or other 'behind-the-scenes' journalists). Unlike the Studs Terkel Award, the Ripple Effect Award is not limited to Chicago-area journalists, but can include journalists from across the U.S.
Is granted to a journalist anywhere in the U.S. whose work has had an impact in Chicago and beyond. Must demonstrate quality journalism that has enlightened and inspired people across the country. Think of journalists whose investigative journalism changed policies, or whose engaging, well-researched stories shifted the public narrative around an issue.
Past Winners
2022
Bob Black, Photojournalist, formerly Chicago Sun-Times & Chicago Defender
Maya Dukmasova, Senior Reporter, Injustice Watch
Jacqueline Serrato, Barrio Journalist & Editor-in-Chief, South Side Weekly
María Inés Zamudio, Reporter, WBEZ
Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, Chicago Urban Historian & CEO of Chicago Mahogany Tours (Uplifting Voices Award)
Michelle Duster, Author, Professor and Public Historian (Ripple Effect Award)
Click here to watch a playback of the full ceremony, as well as individual videos of the winners' speeches along with introductions by past winners.
2021
Brandis Friedman, WTTW
Michael Puente, WBEZ
Maureen O'Donnell, The Chicago Sun-Times
Karen Hawkins, The Chicago Reader & Rebellious Magazine
Tonika Lewis-Johnson, The Folded Map Project (Uplifting Voices Award)
Jamie Kalven, Invisible Institute (Ripple Effect Award)
Click here to watch the full ceremony.
Note: The awards were postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019
Deborah Douglas, Managing Editor, MLK 50: Justice Through Journalism
Britt Julious, Freelance writer and editor
Jerome McDonnell, Reporter and former host of Worldview, WBEZ
Annie Sweeney, Reporter, Chicago Tribune
Jeff McCarter, Founder & Executive Director of Free Spirit Media (Uplifting Voices Award)
Nikole Hannah-Jones, Creator of 1619 Project, The New York Times (NEW Ripple Effect Award)
Click here to watch the full ceremony via CAN TV. Click here to see a photo gallery from the evening.
2018
Kathy Chaney, Asst. Audience Engagement Editor, Chicago Sun-Times
Michael Spencer Green, Photojournalist, The Associated Press
Dahleen Glanton, Columnist, Chicago Tribune
Odette Yousef, Reporter, 91.5 WBEZ Chicago
Kevin Coval, Poet, Author, Activist and Educator (Uplifting Voices Award winner)
Awards 
