Planned Parenthood Calls for Nominations for the 2015 Maggie Awards for Media Excellence

For Immediate Release: March 27, 2015

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New York, NY — Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced today that it is now accepting nominations for its 2015 Maggie Awards for Media Excellence. These awards recognize exceptional contributions by the media that enhance the public's understanding of sexual and reproductive health care issues including contraception, sex education, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, abortion, international family planning, and health care access.

 

“The media plays a critical role in educating the public on issues of sexual and reproductive health,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “The Maggie Awards for Media Excellence are an opportunity for us to honor the journalists and editors who produce accurate and in-depth coverage of these issues and who, like us, care passionately about helping people lead healthy and well-informed lives.”

 

Inaugurated in 1978 and named after Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, the annual awards cover the following categories:

• Commentary
• Daily Print Reporting
• Radio Reporting
• General Interest Magazine
• Women’s Magazine
• Online Reporting
• TV News Reporting
• Social Media
• Community/Personal Blog
• Youth Media

 

Entries are judged by professionals from the communications field and experts in reproductive and sexual health. Judges consider creativity, quality, relevance and effectiveness, as well as cultural diversity.

Nominations for the 2015 PPFA Maggie Awards — for work appearing between April 15, 2014, and April 30, 2015 — should be submitted by April 30, 2015, along with a completed nomination form.  The nomination form and other information about submitting a nomination can be found here. Maggie Awards will be presented to winners in the summer of 2015.

 

Recipients of the 2014 PPFA Maggie Awards were:

• Excellence in Media: Cosmopolitan magazine, for their bold coverage and discussions of women's health and the attacks on women's access to safe and legal abortion across the country, both in their print and online editions.
• Daily Print Reporting: Carolyn Jones, formerly of the Texas Observer, for her insightful coverage of the ongoing attempts to restrict abortion access in Texas.
• Commentary: Jessica Valenti, formerly of The Nation, for her “Body Politic” column, a constant source of original thinking on essential reproductive rights issues and the politics and policies that inform them.
• General Interest Magazine Reporting: Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker, for her piece, “HIV’s Grip on the American South,” which sheds much-needed light on the HIV epidemic in the Deep South of the United States.
• Women’s Magazine: Maya Rhodan, ESSENCE magazine, for her piece, “What We Stand to Lose,” on the various attempts to restrict access to safe and legal abortion in this country and the disproportionate impact this will have on black women.
• TV and Online Reporting: Irin Carmon, MSNBC, for her powerful piece “The new frontier of the abortion wars,” on the anti-abortion movement in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and her subsequent television reporting on this for MSNBC.
• Online Reporting: Adriana Beorlegui, HolaDoctor, for her informative coverage of the Affordable Care Act throughout the enrollment period and her efforts to educate the Latino community on the benefits of the ACA.
• Social Media Community Activism: Zerlina Maxwell, #RapeCultureIsWhen, for starting the powerful #RapeCultureIsWhen conversation via social media and bringing light to an issue long overlooked by traditional media.
• Media Activism: Christopher DiDonato, for his invaluable activist efforts during the Texas filibuster and subsequent events, live-streaming the action on the ground so that supporters across the country could see what was happening in real time.
• Social Media Campaign: Janet Mock, #RedefiningRealness, for creating such a powerful and safe space for trans voices online and beyond through her #RedefiningRealness tumblr page.
• TV Reporting: Dr. Jennifer Ashton, CBS’s The Doctors, for her informative coverage of the Affordable Care Act's many benefits for women, specifically in the “Obamacare 101: How the Affordable Care Act Affects You” episode of The Doctors, which aired in December 2013.

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Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable health care for women, men, and young people, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education. With more than 700 health centers across the country, Planned Parenthood organizations serve all patients with care and compassion, with respect and without judgment. Through health centers, programs in schools and communities, and online resources, Planned Parenthood is a trusted source of reliable health information that allows people to make informed health decisions. We do all this because we care passionately about helping people lead healthier lives.