Best Documentary: Gold Award
The Sonic Memorial Project
by The Kitchen Sisters with Ben Shapiro and The Sonic Memorial Team

The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) have been producing radio programs together since 1979. They are the creators, with Jay Allison, of the 1999 Peabody Award-winning series, Lost & Found Sound and the 2002 Peabody Award winning series The Sonic Memorial Project. Aired on NPR's All Things Considered , these groundbreaking national collaborations have brought together independent producers, NPR, stations, artists, historians and public radio listeners throughout the country to create memorable and significant radio.

Ben Shapiro is a radio and television producer whose wide-ranging documentary work has aired on NPR, the CBC and other outlets. His television projects as producer and cameraperson have appeared on PBS, HBO, the BBC and he is currently finishing a high-definition video documentary on photographer Gregory Crewdson. Shapiro’s programs have won many awards including NFCB Gold and Silver Reels, and three Emmys. He’s the producer of the 2003 Third Coast Festival Broadcast.


Best Documentary: Silver Award
Come Back to Afghanistan
by Susan Burton and Hyder Akbar

Susan Burton’s radio documentaries can be heard on This American Life, for which she is a contributing editor and former producer. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and previously she was the editor of the “Readings” section of Harper’s Magazine. Burton received a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to produce radio stories about teenagers, and her documentary Tornado Prom won the Best New Artist award at the 2001 Third Coast Festival.

Hyder Akbar was born in Peshawar, Pakistan, to Afghan parents, and grew up mainly in Concord, California. In the summer of 2002, he traveled to Afghanistan for the first time and made a radio documentary about his experience living in Kabul. Akbar returned to Afghanistan in 2003, living this time in Kunar, a rural border province of which his father is now the governor. Akbar currently attends Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California.
Best Documentary: Bronze Award
Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a Community
by Youth Radio

Youth Radio is an award-winning non-profit media training program and independent producer of youth media. For more than a decade, the Berkeley-based organization has trained thousands of teenagers in broadcast journalism, radio & web production, engineering, media advocacy and literacy. The fresh and compelling voices of these young reporters can be heard on radio, the internet, and through print media, reaching an audience of 15 million people per year.
Best Documentary: Honorable Mention
Open Outcry
by Ben Rubin

Ben Rubin is a sound designer and multimedia artist and he teaches at the Yale School of Art. He collaborates frequently with other artists such as Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich and Arto Lindsay. Rubin has been awarded numerous artistic residencies and has been nominated for several national prizes. In 1993 he founded EAR Studio which provides design, consulting and production services to architects, museums, artists, producers and performers.
Best Documentary: Director's Choice
The Dribble Down Effect
by Eurydice Aroney

Eurydice Aroney has produced program for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for many years. Her radio features have been broadcast on the CBC, Canada and the BBC, UK. Currently she’s attempting to break new ground in documentary form by combining the ideas of social theorists with “real people and problems.” Aroney is also Head of Radio Journalism at the Sydney University of Technology.

Best New Artist
Can You Say Haa?
by Reena Katz

Reena Katz is a violinist, teacher and audio artist in Toronto, Canada. Katz's personal audio work stems from her interest in detailing the history of her family and its relationship to immigration, war, and transformation. Since 2001, she has been active in the movement for just peace in Israel and Palestine, and produces a monthly community radio show in Toronto. Can You Say Haa? is her first radio documentary.




Public Service Award
Tracking
by Jaimita Haskell, Marianne McCune and Czerina Patel of Radio Rookies

Jaimita Haskell attends Curtis High School in Saint George, Staten Island where she also lives. As a result of challenging the educational tracking system at Curtis High School during her sophomore year, Haskell will soon graduate from the advanced program. Haskell enjoys writing, loves being with her family, and is planning to be a lawyer.

Marianne McCune was a documentary and educational filmmaker before sliding over into the world of public radio. She has worked in Gambia, Croatia, London and New York, focusing as often as possible on programs for and about young people. Her documentary Memories Do not Burn, about a summer camp for refugee children from Bosnia and Croatia, won numerous awards. McCune reports for WNYC and contributes regularly to NPR and PRI. She's also the founder of Radio Rookies.

Czerina Patel is the producer of Radio Rookies, a youth radio program. From mentoring 5th graders while in college, to organizing a journalism mentoring project for Harlem teens while in graduate school, Czerina has been a mentor and friend to children and teenagers for many years.
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