FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- March 22, 2011
CONTACT: Pamela Anne Quiroz, pamelaquiroz@comcast.net, 708 386-2625     

Journalists Covering Family Diversity Honored by Council on Contemporary Families:
9^th Annual Media Awards to be Presented at April 8^th Conference in Chicago

CHICAGO, IL--The Council on Contemporary Families (CCF) is pleased to present its Ninth Annual Media Awards on Friday, April 8, at the CCF Annual Conference in Chicago, IL. The awards honor outstanding journalism that contributes to the public understanding of contemporary family issues. Awards will be presented at the CCF luncheon on Friday, April 8, at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Award recipients will speak briefly about their work and the ways in which scholars and practitioners can help them advance the conversation about the needs of American families today.

A 2011 Award for Print Coverage of Family Issues goes to journalist, Belinda Luscombe for "Who Needs Marriage? A Changing Institution", a cover story in Time magazine based on a nationwide poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in association with Time. Jurors felt Luscombe's article provided fresh and counter-intuitive insights into this increasingly voluntary institution, including changes in what people look for in spouses, the growing wealth disparity between the married and unmarried, and how these patterns affect parenting and family life.

A second 2011 Award for Print Coverage of Family Issues goes to journalist Karen Houppert for "Finding a Home", part of a special issue of Baltimore's Urbanite magazine on the modern family. Her piece describes a new program in Baltimore established by the Casey Family Services that finds homes for teen mothers and their babies. The program pairs them with older parents who offer help and advice, and coordinates monthly meetings attended by the teen's entire support network. Houppert contextualizes the story within Baltimore's particularly troubled history with foster care, and highlights the collaboration between disparate agencies that meaningful reform requires. Jurors appreciated this moving and well-documented introduction to an effective model that helps ensure that the next generation never ends up in foster care.

The 2011 Award for Outstanding Broadcast Coverage of Family Issues goes to journalist Jackie Linge's video documentary, "Law Dividing Love," about the intersection of marriage, equality and immigration policy. Linge profiles a lesbian couple facing separation because they cannot marry and one partner is being forced to return to her native country. Jurors appreciated Linge's explanation of the federal and state divide on these issues, and agreed that her portrait of the legal and social dislocation of gay and lesbian couples in an anti-immigrant policy environment has global reach.

CCF is pleased to present a 2011 Special Award for Emerging Journalists to Timothy Harper, Professor and Writing Coach,on behalf of his students at the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism for their collaborative website, "Homeless with Homework." This rich presentation depicts the struggles of homeless children to attend school in New York City, and the efforts of family members, educators, and activists on their behalf. The jury commended the site's Statistics and Data section and pointed out its relevance for family policy. They praised the diversity and immediacy of the site's personal stories, as well as its foregrounding of enormous resilience of homeless mothers and children. We look forward to reading these promising young journalists' bylines in the national press in the years to come. The eleven students included: Alana Casanova-Burgess; Eleanor Miller; Hannah Rappleye; Matt Robinson; Dan Chung; Colby Hamilton; Dale W. Eisinger; Perry Santanachote; Mariana Vasconcellos; Vineeth Thomas; Rochana Rapkins.

Each of these entries exemplifies issues confronting families in the twenty-first century, the resilience with which they respond, and the further questions that scholars, journalists, and policymakers should be pursuing. We commend all of our award winners for contributing to the national conversation on families and furthering the objective of the Council on Contemporary Families.

About the CCF Media Awards: The CCF media awards were established in 2002 as part of the Council's commitment to enhancing the public understanding of trends in American family life. "All too often, changes in U.S. family patterns are painted in stark, better-or-worse terms that ignore the nuanced and complex realities of family life today. The Awards Committee looked for articles that put individual family issues in larger social context. This kind of coverage offers the public a balanced picture of the trade-offs, strengths and weaknesses in many different family arrangements and structures," explained Stephanie Coontz, CCF's Co-Chair and Director of Research and Public Education. The CCF media awards committee will call for nominations for the 2011 awards in the fall. For information about past media award recipients, please visit http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/media-awards/.

About CCF: The Council on Contemporary Families is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of family researchers, mental health and social practitioners, and clinicians, dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best practice findings about American families. Founded in 1996 and based at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Council's mission is to enhance the national understanding of how and why contemporary families are changing, what needs and challenges they face, and how these needs can best be met.

CCF's April 8-9, 2011, Conference in Chicago:

The topic of CCF's 14th Annual Conference, April 8-9, 2011, is "Tipping Point? When Minority Families Become the Majority." The conference is held at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Panels in our customary brief formal presentation/long dialogue format convene experts on minority families. The program includes a Keynote by Dan Lichter of Cornell University:  "The Reshaping of Racial Boundaries in Personal Relationships."

Other topics that will examine issues of racial, ethnic and social class diversity include multiracial identities, sexual diversity, child-rearing and transitions to adulthood, paid and unpaid care at home, and family counseling beyond the white middle-class model. A detailed program is at http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/conference/2011-conference-program.html

To receive a complimentary press pass to the conference or get future CCF briefing papers, contact Stephanie Coontz, CCF's Co-Chair and Director of Research and Public Education: coontzs@msn.com.

LINKS:

CCF Conference Program http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/conference/2011-conference-program.html

CCF Media Awards Winners:

Betsy Luscumbe http://www.siite.com/samples/time/about/biographies/senioreditorialstaff/luscombe.html
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2031962,00.html

Karen Houppert http://www.karenhouppert.com/bio.cfm?mi=1
http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/finding-a-home/Content?oid=1320469

Jackie Linge http://www.jacquelinelinge.com/about
http://www.casttv.com/video/hx96a91/jackie-linge-law-dividing-love-video

Timothy Harper and students http://journalism.nyu.edu/faculty/tim-harper/
http://homelesswithhomework.com/

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