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WHAT: B’nai B’rith World Center annual Excellence in Diaspora Journalism Awards
WHO: Nadav Eyal (Channel 10), Sam Sokol (Jerusalem Post) Selected as Winners; Lifetime Achievement Award to Kol Israel; David D’Or to receive special citation 
WHERE: Yad Ben Zvi, Jerusalem
WHEN: June 8 at 19:30 at (coalesce and light refreshment will begin at 19:00)

Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus of Harvard University, will address the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage on June 8. Dershowitz—a world-renowned jurist—is universally recognized as one of Israel’s most ardent advocates in the court of world opinion. His address will take the form of a conversation with Liat Collins, editor of the International Jerusalem Post and weekly columnist, during which he will answer tough questions on Israel, American Jewry, the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions movement, and U.S.-Israel relations.

Winners of the award named for Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf, are Nadav Eyal, Channel 10’s chief international correspondent and Sam Sokol, Jewish World correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. A Lifetime Achievement Award in memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky will also be presented to Kol Yisrael—The Voice of Israel Radio—for its long-running program “Searching for Missing Relatives” now edited and presented by Izi Mann. A special citation for contribution to Israel-Diaspora Relations through the arts will be presented to acclaimed singer David D’Or, who will perform.

Eyal will receive the award in the broadcast media category for his hour-long program “Hate,” broadcast on Channel 10 on Oct. 7, 2014. The program deals with rising anti-Semitism in Europe and was filmed on location in Germany, England and Greece. The broadcast also aired earlier in the year as a four-part mini-series during the station’s primetime news program. The award in the print media category will be presented to Sam Sokol for a series of nearly 30 articles published in the Jerusalem Post from May to December 2014 focusing on the fast-changing situation of Jews in war-ravaged eastern Ukraine.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Kol Yisrael for its “Searching for Missing Relatives” program, inaugurated in 1945 to help Holocaust survivors track down missing relatives. The program was broadcast continuously until 1969 and was re-launched in 2000 by Yaron Enosh in a new format that included interviews and investigative reporting. Over the years the program, and its English print iteration “Seeking Kin” by Hillel Kuttler, have brought together hundreds of Jews across the globe, locating and reuniting with long-lost relatives, friends and neighbors.

Since its establishment in 1992, the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism has recognized excellence in reportage on contemporary Diaspora-Jewish communities and on the state of Israel-Diaspora relations today in the Israeli print and electronic media. The award is widely acknowledged in the media industry as the most prestigious prize in its field in Israel. Its goal is to help shore up the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora by recognizing excellence in Diaspora-related reportage appearing in the Israeli print, broadcast and web-based media. It was established in recognition of the important contribution the media can make toward strengthening the relationship between Israel and world Jewryso essential for the resilience of bothby encouraging quality reportage on Diaspora communities and Israel-Diaspora relations. 

The distinguished members of the award jury are: Chairman Asher Weill, publisher and editor of “ARIEL”– The Israel Review of Arts and Letters from 1981 to 2003; Yehudith Auerbach, professor in the School of Communication at Bar Ilan University; Eytan Bentsur, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs director general; Sara Frenkel, former Diaspora correspondent for Israel Radio and Lifetime Achievement Award winner in 2002; Shalom Kital, former director general of News Company and Channel 2; Gabriela Shalev, professor and chair of the Higher Academic Council at Ono Academic College, as well as a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations; and Bambi Sheleg, founder and editor-in-chief of Eretz Acheret, and a 2011 award winner.

The B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism is named for the late Wolf Matsdorf and his wife Hilda. Wolf was an editor of the B’nai B’rith World Center Journal “Leadership Briefing” and a journalist in Israel and Australia. Hilda was a pioneer in social work in both Australia and Israel. The Lifetime Achievement Award is named for Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky. The Award is made possible through donations from Daniel Schydlowsky, a professor and a member of the B’nai B’rith World Center International Board of Governors (Lima, Peru and Washington D.C.), and the Matsdorf family. 

For more information please contact 
Alan Schneider, director, B’nai B’rith World Center: +972525536441.