Excellence in Video Storytelling, Short-Form or Social
Aliya Karim; Other contributors: Jasmine Amjad; Ruqaiyah Najjar; Steven Kern; Shayna Posses, “How Palestinian Food, Identity, and Heritage Is Targeted,” NowThis
ABOUT THE WORK: The author writes: “In the midst of a heavy news cycle, which included Gaza residents seeing their bakeries bombed and access to water limited, I found food content creators on social media talking about the generations of recipes and stories that had been passed down as a part of their Palestinian heritage. It became apparent to me that there was a critical story here about Palestinian identity and culture that the mainstream media wasn’t covering.”
Aliya Karim currently serves as Associate Director of Social Media at NowThis where she oversees the distribution of all content across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube and periodically writes and produces human interest stories for the company at large. Previously she worked at Vox Media as a script writer for its Explainer Studio and at World Food Program USA as a digital communications producer. She earned her master's and bachelor's degrees from George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. She speaks Bangla fluently and is a proud daughter of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants.
Jasmine Amjad is a journalist and storyteller from New Jersey. Her focus has primarily been on reporting stories from marginalized communities, including human rights issues and the criminal justice system. Her work has taken her all across the United States, abroad, and into the White House to produce a Presidential Forum with Joe Biden.
Judges’ comments: “The film is a unique perspective of the identity and the culture of Palestinians. It gives a new lens into the community - through something so integral to our soul - food. Food and ingredients are things we take for granted, but it is one of the last bastions of pride for the Palestinian people and is quickly diminishing. The efforts that the key subject and the filmmaker have taken, to bring to light and uphold a stand in the ongoing circumstances is truly commendable. The uncertainty and threat in the film, coupled with the research does dictate an urgency in a concise yet powerful way.”
Honorable Mention: Joseph Hogan, Brian Kamerzel, Sianne Garlick-Wilson, Kyra Darnton and Chris Buck, “The Crime That Fueled an Asian American Civil Rights Movement,” Retro Report
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