Media Literate Media Awards

The NAMLE Media Literate Media Awards recognize people, programs, initiatives, or organizations in mainstream media that: 

• Have raised the visibility of media literacy education or media literacy. 
  
• Have helped citizens better understand media literacy education or media literacy.
  
• Have provided significant, outstanding resources that enhance the ability of educators to practice the kind of inquiry-based media literacy education described in NAMLE's Core Principles of Media Literacy Education (namle.net/core-principles).

Any NAMLE member is eligible to make a nomination for the award, and a committee of board and non-board members will be assembled each year to select the winners.

Nominations should include the following information:

• Nominator’s full contact information, including phone number
• Name and as much contact information as possible for the nominee (person, program, organization or initiative)
• A paragraph in support of the nomination, including how the nominee meets one or more of the award criteria listed above

Click here to make a nomination or to volunteer to be on the awards selection committee.

Awards History

NAMLE's Media Literate Media Awards started out as the Partnership for Media Education's (PME) Outstanding Achievement Awards. First presented at Summit 2000: Children Youth and Media - Beyond the Millennium in Toronto, Canada, the purpose of the Awards was to:

• Encourage mainstream media to incorporate media literacy into their work by publicly acknowledging those who do so.
  

Because of the Summit 2000 theme, the Toronto awards focused on children's programming and were awarded to the following programs:

• In The Mix - PBS/Castle Works Inc. 
  For excellence in integrating media literacy into the program content of a television series aimed at teens, with particular recognition for the special "Media Literacy: TV, What You Don't See."

• Theodore Tugboat - PBS/Cochran Entertainment Inc.
  For excellence in integrating media literacy into the outreach materials and related program content in a television series aimed at preschool children, with special recognition for the Ready-To-Learn Training Manual for Workshop Leaders.
  
  
• Wishbone - PBS/Lyrick Studios.
  For excellence in integrating media literacy into a children's television series on an ongoing basis, through the "Tail Ends" segments that explore specific media production techniques.
  
  
• Buy Me That! A Kid's Survival Guide to TV Adverting - HBO/Consumer Reports.
  For being a pioneer in promoting media literacy and critical thinking through cable television specials aimed at children. (Note: Even though they are nearly 10 years old, the videotapes of those specials are still core materials for many media literacy educators across the U.S.)

• Nick News With Linda Ellerbee - Nickelodeon/Lucky Duck Productions. 
  For excellence in incorporating media literacy into a children's television series on an ongoing basis, both as part of the overall programming concept and in specific stories that focus on media effects and critical thinking about media content.
   
• 30 by 30: Kid Flicks - HBO Family. For excellence in promoting media literacy in television for youth by encouraging children and teens to produce their own video programming and providing a national outlet for it to be shown.
  

After a hiatus, the awards were resurrected and re-named for the Alliance for a Media Literate America's National Media Education 2003 Conference in Baltimore. Because the theme of NMEC 2003 was "Literacy and Liberty", this round of awards focused on outstanding contributions to the field of media literacy by people doing mainstream public affairs and news.

In 2003, awards were given to:

• Bill Moyers and NOW
  
  
• Howard Kurtz - for his Washington Post columns and CNN show
  
  
• Janine Jackson - for her work on Counterspin (radio show) and with FAIR

 In 2005, the awards were given to:

• Jon Stewart of The Daily Show (WATCH JON ACCEPT HIS AWARD)
  
  
• Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield of NPR's On the Media (LISTEN TO AUDIO OF BROOKE'S ACCEPTANCE)
  
  
• Van Jones, Esq., CEO of the Ella Barker Center
  

 In 2007, the awards were given to:

• Lawrence Lessig, of Creative Commons (audio acceptance coming soon)
  
  
• Barbara and David P. Mikkelson of www.Snopes.com

Click here to make a nomination or to volunteer to be on the awards selection committee.