iReport Awards

May 15th, 2012
09:01 AM ET

CNN to Host the Second Annual iReport Awards
Nominees to Appear on CNN Newsroom and Participate in First-Ever Awards Weekend

CNN announced today its second annual awards program to celebrate the most compelling stories of 2011 from CNN iReport’s participatory journalism community. Recipients of an iReport Award, selected from more than one million members worldwide, will be announced during the first-ever iReport Awards Weekend June 22 – 24, 2012. Hosted at CNN’s World Headquarters in Atlanta, GA, attendees of the weekend-long event will be treated to exclusive workshops, panel sessions and an awards presentation.

"Every single day, iReporters and their stories play an important role in CNN’s journalism and storytelling. The iReport Awards is our way of saluting the best of that work, and recognizing the incredible contributions of community-created journalism on our network and news media at large," said Lila King, participation director for CNN Digital. "We look forward to a weekend of events that celebrate and cement CNN's commitment to iReport and to the future of co-created news."

iReport Awards will presented in six categories: Breaking News, Original Reporting, Compelling Imagery, Commentary, Personal Story, and Interview. From nearly 15,000 iReports approved for use on CNN last year, a total of six nominees in each category have already been selected by a team of CNN experts. A diverse panel of judges comprised of innovators and trailblazers in participatory storytelling and journalism will choose the recipients.

This year’s roster of judges includes Andrea Allen, director of production & community at Vimeo; Brooke Baldwin, anchor of CNN Newsroom; Burt Herman, co-founder of Storify; Solana Larsen, managing editor, Global Voices; Vadim Lavrusik, journalist program manager, Facebook; Issa Rae, producer, director and writer, The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl; Nic Robertson, award-winning journalist and senior correspondent for CNN International.

Of the 36 total nominees, online users also can show their support for the package they think best embodies CNN iReport in 2011 by voting for the Community Choice award recipient at http://CNNiReportAwards.com. Voting is open until Monday June 11, 12p.m. ET. Beginning the week of May 14th through the week of June 4th, nominees will be featured during Newsroom with Kyra Phillips (weekdays from 11-12 p.m. ET) and CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin (weekdays from 2-4 p.m ET). In addition, the Community Choice Award recipient will be featured on air June 25th.

For information about CNN iReport, visit iReport.com, and see CNNiReportAwards.com to learn more about the iReport Awards or to check out this year’s nominees.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

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CONTACTS:

April Andrews
404.878.5017
Twitter: @aprilCNNpr
april.andrews@cnn.com