The Filipino Australian editor and publisher Romeo Cayabyab received last night the award forCoverage of Community Affairs in Australia in the inaugural Multicultural Media Awards.

The first Awards had nine categories which attracted 132 nominations coming from four state and territories across Australia.

Multicultural Media Awards founder & chairman MLC Shaoquett Moselmane

“This is the first time that multicultural and indigenous journalists from across the nation are recognised for their efforts in a stand-alone awards night such as this,” Awards founder and chairman Labor MLC Shaoquett Moselmane said.

“Our multicultural and indigenous journalists are the people who bring communities together, break down social and cultural barriers, and are at the forefront of multiculturalism.”

The gala dinner for the presentation of the Awards was held at NSW Parliament House with Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, as guest speaker.

“It is great to see multicultural media getting the attention it deserves. I believe it is essential to Australian democracy,” Senator Carr said.

“Multicultural Media plays a key role in merging international cultures into the Australian identity.”

Last night’s awardees:

Majida Abboud / SBS Radio and Pawan Luthra / IndianLink – shared the Multicultural Journalist of the Year award
Romeo Cayabyab / The Filipino Australian – Coverage of Community Affairs in Australia
Win Yam Lee / Sing Tao Daily – Coverage of Community Affairs Abroad
Lina Lee / Top News – Contribution to Social Inclusion and Multiculturalism
Gerry Georgalos / National Indigenous Times – Coverage of Indigenous Affairs
Pawan Luthra / IndianLink – Editorial/ News Reporting
Oi Ling Lee / Sing Tao Daily – Multicultural Photographer of the Year
Pawan Luthra & IndianLink / IndianLink – Online Innovation in News Blog or News Website Design

“We’ve seen an exceptional standard amongst the award recipients and I look forward to continuing this event long into the future,” Mr Moselmane said.

Mr Moselmane is the Chairman of the Multicultural Media Awards Inc.

Judging of entries was conducted by an independent panel of media identities and community leaders: Prof Philip Bell (Adjust Professor of Media Studies, UTS), Dr Fawzy Soliman (Senior Academic Supervisor, UTS), Ms Liz Foschia (State Political Reporter, ABC News), Mr John Choueifate (Executive Producer, Channel 7), Dr Zoran Becvarovski (Otolaryngologist, St George Private Hospital), Ms Sheba Nandkeolya (CEO, Multicall Connection), Clr Ernest Wong (Burwood City council), Mr Afif Malkoun (Media Director, Etcom), Mr Yang Joo (Executive Producer, SBS Radio), Mr David Giang (Vietnamese Media), and Mr Kashif Amjad (Pakistan Australia Business Council).

Last night’s award was the second major award given to emanila.com and its websites. In November 2000, emanila became the first awardee for Technology in Australia’s National Multicultural Marketing Awards. Mr Cayabyab co-founded emanila together with multimedia specialist Rom Zamora.