AFTRA Website and Magazine Win ILCA Awards

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 21, 2010) – The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA, AFL-CIO), a national union of more than 70,000 professional performers, recording artists and broadcasters, today announced its AFTRA.com website has received two first place awards and AFTRA Magazine a second place award from the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) 2010 Labor Media Awards.

The website, www.aftra.com, was awarded First Award for two categories: General Excellence and Best Design by an International/National union. The editor of the website is Leslie Simmons, National Manager of Communications.

The Union’s quarterly publication, AFTRA Magazine, has also been recognized for Second Award for Best Series of Articles by an International, National or Other Labor Organization for its 2009 series “The Changing Newsroom.” The editor of the magazine is Christopher de Haan, National Director of Communications. Part One of the series is written by Simmons and Part Two is a first-person article written by Mark Jones, an AFTRA Shop Steward at KRON-TV in San Francisco.

The judges said of the series, which focused on the desire of some broadcast employers to have reporters become Multi-Media Journalists, "Well done. This piece thoughtfully presented the pros and cons of the changeover where reporters now do camera, sound and editing work, too. Very informative, with union members telling what they like and hate about the changes."

“I'm very happy our series on the newsroom has been recognized,” said AFTRA member Ed Fry who is the Editorial Board Chair overseeing AFTRA Magazine and the co-chair of the Union’s IT Committee, which oversees AFTRA.com. “Changes in working conditions is of primary concern to our union and we will continue to explore these changes as new technologies create them.

“And I'm very pleased our new website has been recognized for its excellence,” he added. “We've worked hard over the years to create a clean design that is easy to view, navigate and search. And we work to fill it with information that is genuinely useful for the entire membership. No doubt we will continue to evolve it to keep up with the needs of a broad-based 21st century media union.”

The ILCA is a nonpartisan, non-profit professional organization for union publications and media production departments for international, national, regional and local affiliates of the AFL-CIO and Canadian Labour Congress. The Labor Media Awards honors excellence in a variety of categories, from print to multimedia and will be presented at the ILCA’s awards luncheon on Nov. 19 in Washington, D.C.

For a list of winners, go to: http://ilcaonline.org/content/winners-2010-labor-m....

About AFTRA
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO, are the people who entertain and inform America. In 32 Locals across the country, AFTRA members work as actors, broadcasters, singers, dancers, announcers, hosts, comedians, disc jockeys and other performers across the media industries including television, radio, cable, sound recordings, music videos, commercials, audio books, non-broadcast industrials, interactive games, the Internet and other digital media. The 70,000 professional performers, broadcasters and recording artists of AFTRA are working together to protect and improve their jobs, lives and communities in the 21st century. From new art forms to new technology, AFTRA members embrace change in their work and craft to enhance American culture and society.