Council on Contemporary Families 2012 Media Awards

Miami, FL--The Council on Contemporary Families (CCF) is pleased to present its Tenth Annual Media Awards on Friday, April 27, 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 a 5 p.m. reception at the Crowne Plaza Metro Chicago Hotel, where the conference is located. 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.

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.

November 19, 2008

Holidays are a great time for family fun. But they also present real challenges for families, from coping with in-laws and former spouses, to fending off awkward questions about partners and children (or the lack of same), to avoiding over-indulgence in food, drinking, and gift-giving. And this year there may be more stress than usual as many families face lay-offs, housing problems, or other economic pressures.

CCF is already getting lots of calls from journalists about holiday-related stories. In response, CCF researchers and clinicians have identified topics ranging from negotiating rituals in blended or divorced families, to managing time, dealing with the stress of gift-giving and over-eating, and coping with mismatch of school holiday schedules and parental work requirements. They offer background for stories on how families handle the absence of loved ones over the holidays, on the special issues faced by immigrants, on what families can do when parents or children are incarcerated, and on how non-traditional families deal with holiday rituals and images.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- March 17, 2009

CONTACT: Ashton Applewhite, applewhite@earthlink.net, 646-644-4040

A 2009 Award for Print Coverage of Family Issues goes to Neil Swidey, Staff Writer for the Boston Globe for "Spying on the Text Generation," a cover story in the Boston Globe Magazine. The article describes how, when it comes to watching over their tech-obsessed teenagers, parents are learning the dangers of too much information. Clinicians on the jury found the article immensely relevant to concerns they're encountering about security and privacy. Others commended Swidey's solid research and lively writing, and the balance struck between kids' and parents' points of view.

A second 2009 Award for Print Coverage of Family Issues will be presented to Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, Staff Writer for the San Antonio Express-News, for four articles. "Hollywood's new family values?" discusses the omission of abortion as a reasonable choice in a spate of recent films; "Party of One" describes contentment and self-sufficiency among older women living alone; "Fostering Success" profiles three Texan foster-care families; and "Housework Divided" explores the link between sharing housework and marital well-being. The jury praised Stoeltje's in-depth coverage of a broad range of topics, attention to socioeconomic issues, and nonpartisan tone.

The 2009 Award for Outstanding Broadcast Coverage of Family Issues will be awarded to Patricia Nazario of KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) for "Her Three Sons," a three-part series about a single mother raising three special-needs sons in Los Angeles. Moving and informative, the series describes Cathy Harvey's daily life and her navigation of the public school system for services. The jury appreciated the way the stories challenge stereotypes about parents of children with disabilities and contribute to the debate around spectrum disorders.

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 Director of Research and Publicity. The CCF media awards committee will call for nominations for the 2010 awards in the fall. Please visit www.contemporaryfamilies.org for information.

A central purpose of the Council on Contemporary Families is to help the media find experts in various arenas of family research and practice. Please consult our alphabetized index if you are seeking information on a particular topic.

If you have a specific question that is not covered here, please contact our Director of Research and Public Education, Stephanie Coontz, who can connect you with other sources or send out a confidential query to our professional listserve, at coontzs@msn.com, 360.352.8117 or 360.556.9223 (cell). Many journalists have found this to be a useful way of discovering who is doing new research on a topic of interest.

Adolescents: Transition to Adulthood, Parenting, Teen Sex

Drago, Robert
Gerstel, Naomi
Nelson, Margaret K.
Pugh, Allison
Thorne, Barrie
Williams, Joan C.
Wisensale, Steve
Zelizer, Viviana

Childcare

Consumer Culture and Families

Pugh, Allison

Contemporary Childhoods

Pugh, Allison
Thorne, Barrie

Counseling Families: See Family Therapy

Couples: Relationship Issues, Sexuality and Contraception, Transition to Parenting, Counseling

Ahrons, Constance
Bernstein, Anne
Browning, Scott
Bruess, Carol J.
Coleman, Joshua
Cowan, Carolyn Pape
Cowan, Philip
England, Paula
Gadoua, Susan Pease
Gerson, Kathleen
Gordon, Linda Perlman
Katz, Elana
Nack, Adina
Parker, Lynn
Pertman, Adam
Ranes, Diane
Rutter, Virginia
Schwartz, Pepper
Linda Young
Zelizer, Viviana

Cross National Comparisons of Families, Work and Policy

Coontz, Stephanie
Mintz, Steven
Yamin, Priscilla

Infertility

Bernstein, Anne
Coleman, Joshua

Intercultural Families

Furstenberg, Frank
Gerstel, Naomi
Lee, Jennifer
Nemzoff, Ruth
Powell, Brian

International Trends in Marriage, Family Life, Family Policy

Coontz, Stephanie
Ferree, Myra Marx
Gornick, Janet
Smeeding, Timothy

Low Income Families: see Differences in Family Life

Marriage Trends, Dynamics, Effects; Marriage Promotion

Ahrons, Constance
Bergmann, Barbara
Cherlin, Andrew
Coleman, Joshua
Coontz, Stephanie
Cowan, Carolyn Pape
Cowan, Philip A.
Finley, Gordon E.
Gerson, Kathleen
Gornick, Janet
McCallum, Larry
McClain, Linda C.
Musick, Kelly
Randles, Jennifer
Ranes, Diane H.
Rutter, Virginia E.
Schwartz, Pepper
Siegel, Deborah
Smeeding, Timothy
Smock, Pamela
Young, Linda

Military Families

Ross, Susan

Motherhood

Drago, Robert
Gerson, Kathleen
Gregory, Elizabeth
Pridmore-Brown, Michelle
Pugh, Allison
Thorne, Barrie
Williams, Joan C.

Multi-Cultural Families

Kliman, Jodie
Lee, Jennifer
Moore, Mignon
Samuels, Gina Miranda
Nemzoff, Ruth
Turner-Vorbeck, Tammy

Reproductive Politics

Ferree, Myra Marx
Gregory, Elizabeth
Joffe, Carole

Remarriage: see Stepfamilies

Trauma and Disaster

Coffey, Ellen Pulleyblank
Boss, Pauline

Welfare Policies and Families

Cherlin, Andrew
Farris, Buford
Ferree, Myra Marx
Furstenberg, Frank
Iversen, Roberta Rehner
Johnson, Waldo E.
Nelson, Margaret K.
Smeeding, Timothy M.
Wisensale, Steven

Women's Issues: see Gender Issues

About CCF: The Council on Contemporary Families is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best-practice findings about American families. Our members include demographers, economists, family therapists, historians, political scientists, psychologists, social workers, sociologists, as well as other family social scientists and practitioners. 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.

To learn more about other briefing papers and about our annual April conferences, including complimentary press passes for journalists, contact Stephanie Coontz, CCF's Director of Research and Public Education, at coontzs@msn.com.