CEMA 2011 awards presented at packed gala in Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre

January 26, 2015

The winners of the 2011 awards were as follows:

Television: ELA KINOWSKA, producer of the documentary “And Who Are You?” a deeply personal documentary providing a generational exploration of the experience of immigration.

Print: THIEN HUYNH, Reporter, Thoi Bao Newspapers, for the series “There is No Place Like Home,” which offers a transnational tale of returning home to Vietnam.

Internet: SUE CHUN, Producer, Jane-Finch.com, for a series of feaures demystifying the Jane-Finch community and challenging stereotypes.

CEMA Innovation Award: MOHSIN ABBAS, Editor, Diversity Reporter, for best innovative practices reflecting Canada’s diversity.

2011 Sierhey Khmara Ziniak Award, ROMAN BRYTAN, Program Director, World FM, for unswerving dedication to multiculturalism and its affirmative expression through media.

Rainbow Caterpillar Award: AHMAD MAROUF, for the short story Sea of Pearls, written in Arabic. Award is for the best story written for children in a non-official language (other than English or French).

Award presenters were: Ayman Al-Yassini, Executive Director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, Lou Sekulovski, President, Canadian Ethnocultural Council, Kiu Rezvanifar, Board Member, Ontario Media Development Corporation and a Board Member of CEMA, Mark Adler, MP, York Centre, who also read out messages from Prime Minister Steven Harper and Immigration, Citizenship and Multiculturalism minister Jason Kenney, Happie Testa and Hanoosh Abbasi, Founders, Rainbow Caterpillar, Madeline Ziniak, Chair, Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA). Event hosts were Vincenzo Somma, anchor, OMNI News Italian edition, and Sudha Krishnan, OMNI TV reporter / anchor (South Asian news edition).

The gala and award giving will be aired on TV as follows: Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, on OMNI 1 in Ontario, 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.; OMNI BC, 6 p.m., OMNI Alberta at 6:30 p.m.