There was no better way to celebrate Neos Kosmos’ 57th birthday than receiving two awards for media excellence.

The paper was a finalist for seven key categories at the NSW Premier’s Multicultural Media Awards and took out two awards, the best print publication of the year (periodical) and a highly commended in the best article on multiculturalism of the year written in both Greek and English by colleague Eugenia Pavlopoulou.

Her story entitled ‘Jimmy the Pakistani’ covered the issue of prejudice and injustice towards refugees in their adoptive country, and was in fact a chance meeting for Eugenia, who met this incredible man on a plane trip to Greece.

“In Jimmy I saw the bad face of racism but also the story of a migrant,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

“It was a very raw story coming from the heart and touched my heart because I was a migrant when I came to Australia.

“It was a story being said away from the media, it was a story being told from one human being to another.”

Neos Kosmos’ English edition also was a finalist for the best investigative story of the year about the future of the Lonsdale Street Greek precinct written by journalist Helen Velissaris, and finalist for the best feature of the year on a story describing the battle of living with a child with autism, written by journalist Maja Jovic.

The paper’s digital components were also honoured, becoming one of three finalists for the best online publication of the year.

After winning a Multicultural Media Award for best feature last year, 23-year-old journalist Helen Velissaris was also honoured as a finalist in the young journalist of the year category, narrowly losing out to Indian Link’s Ritam Mitra.

Neos Kosmos was also a finalist for the best editorial/commentary of the year, thanks to editor Kostas Karamarkos’ piece on asylum seekers.
The awards are an initiative by the NSW government and Premier Barry O’Farrell took the time to address the 200 strong crowd of journalists, editors, sponsors and dignitaries at the awards ceremony to thank them for their unique and much needed work.

“You are representatives for the greatest assets that we have,” he said.

“The mainstream media should sit up and take note.”

He also heralded ethnic media as a true success story in the media world, where instead of shrinking, more and more publications are coming to the fore and making a huge difference in their communities.

The NSW Minister for Citizenship and Communities, Victor Dominello, used his speech to applaud ethnic media in fighting for the rights of women, and talking about issues many ethnic communities push under the rug.

In particular he mentioned the winner of the best feature and best radio report of the year, SBS Radio documentary The Enemy Within. The documentary in Punjabi interviewed several victims of domestic abuse and looked at whether the Indian community turned a blind eye to this kind of behaviour.

The nominations this year far exceeded the capabilities of the handful of judges on hand and the government had to employ 10 judges from the journalistic and academic fields to properly handle demand.
The full list of finalists and winners (in bold) are below:
Best investigative story of the year:
Australian Jewish News – Hush Money
El Telegraph – Marriage between relatives
Neos Kosmos – Lonsdale Street
SBS Radio – The other 9-11
Best feature of the year:
Indian Link – Autism
Neos Kosmos – Stars don’t talk
SBS Radio – The enemy within
SBS – The Chindian diary
Best editorial/commentary of the year:
Australian Jewish News – Enough is enough
Global Filipinos Australia – Quakers Hill nursing home case
Neos Kosmos – Asylum seekers
Best article on multiculturalism of the year:
Al Anwar Newspaper – The open heart
Beyond the Bridge inc –
A nation of tribes?
Indian Link – It’s an honour
Neos Kosmos – Jimmy the Pakistani (highly commended)
Best print publication of the year (one off publications):
Coalition of Mischief –
A Men
Sayed Mikhael – The open heart
Best Print Publication of the year (peridodicals)
Indian Link
Kompas
Neos Kosmos Weekend Edition
Best print report of the year:
Indian Link – Bookwallahs
Indian Link – Election survey results
Indian Link – Tony Abbott’s Indian plan
Best radio report of the year:
SBS Radio – The enemy within
SBS Radio – The other 9-11
SBS Radio – Ryan Emery
Best community TV or community radio report of the year:
Co.As.It – Spazio Giovani
Indian Link – Q&A with Tony Abbott
South West Multicultural and Community Centre – Pacific Sport 360
Best online publication of the year:
Indian Link – indanlink.com.au
Neos Kosmos – neoskosmos.com
Radio Aglia – kalatas.com.au
Best used of online and digital media:
Global Bersih – It’s time for a change Malaysia
Indian Link media group
Latinhub – 9 vital stories
Young journalist of the year:
Ang Kalatas – Tristan Filio
Indian Link – Ritam Mitra
Neos Kosmos – Helen Velissaris
The Korean Daily Hoju dong-A – Michael Kim
Lifetime achievement award:
Quang Luu AO, head of SBS radio 1989-2006