The dazzling dozen!
Community News Group is making its own headlines after its chain of family glossies broke records at a prestigious, inter-continental media competition, winning 12 awards for keeping mom, dad, kids, and parenting advocates informed and entertained.
New York Parenting received two golds, four silver, and six bronze medals — enough for a hand of pinochle — in Parenting Media Association’s annual Editorial and Design Awards Competition that celebrates excellence in journalism, design, and photography in parenting media around the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
The sensational sweep from 645 entries was an all-time record high for the MetroTech-based syndicate that has been a contest winner for the last 15 years, and publishes Manhattan Family, Brooklyn Family, Bronx-Riverdale Family, Staten Island Family, New York Special Child, and NYPar
“We’re so proud,” said Susan Weiss, publisher and editor, who accepted the plaudits at the P.M.A. Annual Convention in Indiana earlier this month. “Columns, articles, covers! Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island, all five magazines won, and one of our silver award-winning articles created a tremendous buzz on the internet.”
Among the columns singled out for honors were “New & Noteworthy” by Lisa Jean Curtis, “Healthy Living” by Danielle Sullivan, “Divorce & Separation” by Lee Chabin; and “Fabulyss Finds” by Lyss Stern. The accolade-worthy articles included “Misty Copeland — Breaking Down Barriers” by Shnieka L. Johnson, Tammy Scileppi’s “Telling Their Stories — Healing Scars (Teens and Domestic Violence)” series, and Sullivan’s “Teen Disease You’ve Never Heard About,” an investigative feature on Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome that went viral online.
Weiss and art director Leah Mitch — a perennial winner — clinched the gold for their “Super Dads” front cover featuring a cute tot, and a cover illustration on a holiday issue of a gold star directing readers’ eyes to children.
“This simple yet effective illustration tells the story of holiday traditions,” determined the judges.
New York Parenting’s own birth was an entrepreneurial conception.
The chain grew from a single magazine Weiss — a globe-trotting former actress and restaurateur — created after moving to Brooklyn from Manhattan 25 years ago with her baby and discovering Brooklyn was a parenting-magazine desert.
“There was only one magazine and I thought it was provincial,” she says. “I wanted a quality parenting publication that was sophisticated, had quality content and design, and excellent distribution, and thus 17 years ago Brooklyn Family was born.”
Weiss’s string of victories are a huge win for the entire CNG family, said CNG’s president and publisher.
“I am thrilled to see the hard work and dedication Susan and her team bring to creating our family magazines each month recognized with 12 awards,” said Jennifer Goodstein. “The variety of awards shows that the magazines are hitting the right notes.”
