East Bay Youth Media Awards September 23, 2015

Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson will be presenting the East Bay’s first annual Youth Media Awards on September 23, 2015 at the historic Preservation Park - Nile Hall, 1233 Preservation Park Way, downtown Oakland, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The East Bay Youth Media Awards will honor the innovative contributions of young leaders ages 13 to 25 in the fields of print journalism, radio, video production and digital media. The award recipients have been nominated by their peers and industry professionals to receive awards in various media categories.

This inaugural awards event will serve as a funding vehicle to benefit three organizations that have a local, national and global impact: Youth Radio, KDOL Media Enterprise Alliance, and United Roots.

• Youth Radio, a nationally recognized media program established over 20 years ago and recently celebrated by the White House as a recipient of a 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award;

• KDOL Media Enterprise Alliance, an award-winning Oakland school-based media-arts program serving hundreds of inner-city youth with the goal of keeping young people engaged in school, and developing criteria for college admission, and job placement.

• United Roots, a grassroots urban media and arts organization with comprehensive education and training programs for urban youth.

Through partnership with these three community-based organizations, Supervisor Carson aims to spark critical youth engagement and raise community awareness about the incredible young talent emerging from the East Bay.

The following are this years Media Award Recipients.

Serena Witherspoon – Berkeley City College

Witherspoon will receive the Indie Award, presented to a dynamic individual who has demonstrated an independent voice in social media, bringing greater public awareness to a current social issue. Her Huffington Post published blog pertained to raising awareness and the importance of youth taking advantage of the voting system to make positive changes in our world.

Witherspoon has a genuine concern for the planet and the people on it. She has decided to not accept the status quo and encourage her peers to help be the change the world so desperately needs. She is currently working with her mentor Joan Blades at “Living Room Conversations” to make positive and reflective political conversations a part of high school education.

Hank Rugg – Youth Radio

Rugg is the recipient of the Rising Star Award, which recognizes an up-and-coming media professional who has exhibited tremendous potential and passion in creating radio/audio features and brings greater public awareness to a current social issue. He wrote a commentary about his experience having to parent his father after his father had a stroke earlier this year.

Rugg paints a distinctive picture of what it’s like to cope with major change and loss as a teen while also dealing with transition into adulthood. His story highlights his perspective as a teen having to take care of someone that once took care of him and employs futurist and innovative principals while confronting an issue that is unique to children with disabled/differently-abled parents.

Mikey Prizmich, Luis Flores, Maya Escobar – Youth Radio

A team of young video producers and journalists at Youth Radio have created a compelling piece about the volatile state of gun violence in many Oakland neighborhoods and all around the nation, with an inside look on the effects shootings have in a community. They are the recipients of the Maverick Award, which recognizes up-and-coming media professionals who have exhibited tremendous potential and passion in creating an animation or multimedia project, bringing greater public awareness to a current social issue.

Prizmich and Flores creatively use animation to convey Escobar’s story, an otherwise graphic and traumatic experience, in an innocent fashion. It exposes a side of this violence that many forget: The effects of growing up to gunshots on our future generations.

Dashawn Clinton, Demario Lewis, DetermiNation Media Group – United Roots

The Innovator Award goes to DMG for its focus on engaging young black men from the Oakland area. Its program is especially tailored to provide culturally relevant healing practices to support young men who are aspiring to advance their own life goals (such as employment, career, educational or other personal goals). As part of the program, youth participants also

develop their media production skills and produce short films, music and graphic design to share their personal stories and/or present a vision of a healthy community of color in Oakland. This nomination comes from their work to partner with the Latino community in San Francisco to inspire a Black and Brown Unity movement in the greater Bay Area.

The DetermiNation Media Group’s video “Amor for Alex” investigates the killing of Alex Nieto by the San Francisco Police in March 2014.

The Mistress of Ceremonies for the East Bay Media Awards will be NBC Bay Area’s Kari Hall.

Tickets for the East Bay Media Awards Ceremony are $125 - VIP Admission, $55 - General Admission, $25 - Student Admission. To purchase tickets, visit www.mediaawards2015.org.

Partners of the event are NBC Bay Area, COMCAST, The Akonadi Foundation, KBLX, The POST Newsgroup, Visit Oakland, Pixar and California Emerging Technology Fund.

For more information, call (510) 272-6695.

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