Forward editor wins Twersky award

Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief of The Forward, is the winner of the 2015 David Twersky Journalism Award for her June 2, 2014, editorial, “Why Is It so Hard to Convert to Judaism?”

Twersky, who served as editor-in-chief of NJ Jewish News from 1993 to 2002, died in July of 2010 after a 10-year battle with cancer. He was 60.

Prior to his stint at NJJN, he spent three years as Washington bureau chief of the New York-based Forward.

One year after his death, the Twersky Award was established in his memory by his close friend and colleague at both newspapers, Amir Cohen. It recognizes the work of journalists at The Forward and NJJN.

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“The goal is to always find that one piece that David would have considered most remarkable,” said Cohen.

Cohen headed the judges’ committee, which also included Twersky’s children, Anna and Michael; former American Jewish Press Association president Elana Kahn-Oren; and writer Esther Kustanowitz.

Among prior winners were Twersky’s successor as NJJN’s editor-in-chief, Andrew Silow-Carroll, and NJJN reporter Johanna Ginsberg.

In 2012, Larry Cohler-Esses, assistant managing editor of The Forward, received the Twersky Award for an exclusive interview with Mousa Abu Marzook, the second-highest-ranking official in Hamas.

As this year’s winner, Eisner will receive a medal and a $1,000 honorarium at an award ceremony in the spring.