J. The Jewish News of Northern California won 12 awards at the American Jewish Press Association’s 45th annual Simon Rockower Awards.
The awards event on Thursday night in New York City brought together journalists from Jewish publications across the United States and Canada.
J.’s wins include five first-place awards:
- Senior reporter Emma Goss won first place for Excellence in News Reporting for “With wildfires untamed, anguished L.A. communities carry on with Jewish life.”
- Former news editor Gabe Stutman won first place for Excellence in Covering Zionism, Aliyah and Israel for “Zionists faced increasing ostracization in 2024. It could get worse.”
- Stutman also won first place in Excellence in Writing about Politics/Government for “Rep. Ro Khanna says he supports Zionism in exclusive interview on Jewish issues,”
- Staff photographer Aaron Levy-Wolins won first place in Excellence in Photography for his image of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie receiving an interfaith blessing on the eve of his inauguration.
- Contributing editor Alix Wall won first place in Excellence in Writing about Food and Wine for an installment of her Organic Epicure column, “Why are pickles such a big hit with S.F. religious school kids?”
Goss took home second place in Excellence in Writing about Politics/Government for “‘What is the end here?’ Local Jewish campus leaders react to Trump crackdown.”
Second place and honorable mention went to J. in Excellence in Feature Writing. Reporter Niva Ashkenazi won second place for “Rabbis who took psychedelics for study describe ‘profound,’ spiritual experiences.” Wall was awarded honorable mention for “Letters capture a Bay Area family’s generational discord over Israel.”
Goss and producer Lonny Goldsmith of Jewfolk, which runs local Jewish news sites in Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Cincinnati, won second place in Excellence in Podcasting for “Such a Match!,” a series about couples who met through J.’s long-ago personals ads.
Ashkenazi and reporter Lea Loeb shared a second place in Excellence in Writing about Health Care for “Hasidah, Bay Area Jewish nonprofit whose IVF grants led to 60 babies, is winding down.”
Loeb earned an honorable mention in Excellence in Single Commentary for her column “For my mixed Jewish-Salvadoran family, Thanksgiving is complicated.”
Rabbi Daniel Stein of Congregation B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek, one of J.’s regular Torah columnists, was awarded honorable mention in Excellence in Writing About Jewish Thought and Life for “This week’s Torah portion fueled a 1,000-year argument.”
J.’s new editor in chief, Asaf Elia-Shalev, won four awards for work he did in his previous job as an investigative reporter for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
He took home two first-place awards, one in Excellence in Writing About Social Justice and Humanitarian Work for “Transgender Jews and their families search for safety as Trump takes aim at their rights” and one in Excellence in Personality Profiles for “The rise of Yehuda Kaploun: How a Hasidic fixer became Trump’s nominee for antisemitism czar.”
Elia-Shalev also won a second-place Michael Staenberg Award for Excellence in Writing About Jewish Philanthropy for his three-part series: “In a new light: Accountability and turmoil at the FIDF” (Part one, Part two and Part three) and honorable mention for Excellence in Long-Form Writing for “Inside one man’s quixotic quest to preserve 200,000 Israeli tchotchkes.”
“How lucky am I, as an editor, to step into the leadership of a newsroom that is already doing so much so well,” Elia-Shalev said.
J. CEO Jo Ellen Green Kaiser said she is proud of J.’s team.
“We are thrilled to once again be recognized by our peers in Jewish journalism — one of the hardest beats there is,” she said.
J. competed in Division A of the competition, which recognizes work done at weekly and biweekly newspapers. The awards recognized work produced in 2025. Here is the full list of winners.