The B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem announced the 2014 winners of the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportaģe in Memory of Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf.

Matan Hodorov, chief economic correspondent for Channel 10 News, won in the broadcast media category, while Judy Maltz, senior writer for Ha’aretz, took home the award in the print media category. The judges also presented a lifetime achievement award to David Horovitz, founding editor of the Times of Israel and former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post and Jerusalem Report. The award was given to Horovitz for his dedication to extended Diaspora reportaģe spanning a 30-year career.

Since its establishment in 1992, the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism has recognized excellence in reporting on contemporary Diaspora-Jewish communities and on the state of Israel-Diaspora relations in Israeli print and electronic media. The award is widely recognized as a prestigious prize in the Israeli media industry. It was established to highlight the important contributions the media can make toward strengthening the relationship between Israel and world Jewry—so essential for the resilience of both—by encouraging quality reporting on Diaspora communities and Israel-Diaspora relations. 

“Judging from the continued increase of applicants and entries for the award, there seems to be profound interest in Diaspora Jewry and Israel-Diaspora relations among Israeli journalists that still deserves encouragement and recognition through this important awards project,” B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider said.

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 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award winner; Shalom Kital, former director general of News Company and Channel 2; Tamar Liebes, professor and former head of the Department of Communication and Journalism at Hebrew University; 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.

Hodorov received the award in the broadcast media category for his four-part series entitled “The New Immigrants.” The series focuses on the growing phenomenon of emigration of young Israelis to the United States and Europe due to financial hardships they faced in Israel and the formation of new Jewish clusters in the Diaspora. Before becoming chief economic correspondent at Channel 10 in 2009, Hodorov served as a financial correspondent at Galai Zahal for six years. 

Maltz takes home the award in the print media category for a large body of work that appeared in Ha’aretz—in both Hebrew and English—during 2013, including articles about the Greek, Brazilian, Ugandan, Yemenite, American, British and Hungarian Jewish communities. Maltz has also written for The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Report and Globes. 

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, and the Matsdorf family.