New category, Cultural Criticism, highlights Club's annual Journalism Awards competition; entries due Tuesday
The National Press Club's annual Journalism Awards competition features a new award this year, the Nell Minow Award for Cultural Criticsm.
Named for Club member Nell Minow, a longtime journalist and movie critic, the Nell Minow Award honors excellence in cultural criticism. The prize recognizes original critiques addressing the state of society or unique commentary on the human experience (as related to arts, media, politics, identity, and community).
The award joins the many other categories in the Journalism Contest. Entries should be from work in 2021, and the deadline is the end of the day Tuesday, May 31.
Press club members can enter the competition at no charge while non-members pay $135 per entry.
Commenting on the new award, Martha Minow, Nell's sister and a professor at Harvard University and newly elected board chair of the MacArthur Foundation, said, “Outstanding commentary and criticism culture hold promise for illuminating tensions, disappointments, and hopes a for society.
“Nell’s film and cultural criticism exemplifies how such writing can inspire better conversations and deeper reflections across generations and communities. Such work is invaluable during this complex time for cultural criticism and for the world. This award lifts up such efforts.”
Nell’s blog, MovieMom.com, is read by hundreds of thousands of fans who look for her sharp commentary and insightful reviews that reflect a lifetime of obsession with movies.
A very recent review, a B+ for “Top Gun: Maverick,” demonstrates how well she understands her readers. Part of her review:
'I’m happy to report that “Top Gun: Maverick” is everything a fan could hope for. It is exciting, it is endearing, it just about blows kisses at the fans, and it is guaranteed to make many new ones. You want to start right off with Kenny Loggins singing about the danger zone! You’ve got it. You want hot guys with their shirts off playing some sort of ball game on the beach! Happy to provide. You want to see Tom Cruise on his motorcycle? There it is. (No helmet though, not too happy about that.) ……You want to see some very cool and intense action in the sky, shot with lenses specifically developed for this movie? Of course you will. You want to see complex characters and believable plot lines? Oh, come on, no you don’t!”
Nell’s column recently celebrated the 61st anniversary of a famous speech by her father, Newton Minow, then the 35-year-old chairman of the FCC. He declared U.S. television “a vast wasteland.”
Like her father, Nell Minow doesn’t pull any punches.
Entries in the Journalism Contest can include up to five articles or broadcasts (not necessarily in the same outlet) and must be accompanied by a letter explaining the significance of the work and any subsequent actions resulting from its publication or airing.
Most of the awards carry prizes of $750.