ACHIEVA and Awesome Pittsburgh have just announced awards for our program Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media.
ACHIEVA, Pittsburgh’s renowned disabilities service provider, has honored
Logo design by Elizabeth Hunter, Point Park University.
Unabridged Press and founder Jennifer Szweda Jordan with their 2018 Yvonne Zanos Excellence in Media award, for what the agency described as “extraordinary efforts on behalf of people with disabilities and their families.”
“We’re humbled that ACHIEVA chose us for this award named for late KDKA-TV consumer reporter Yvonne Zanos,” says Unabridged Press founder Jennifer Szweda Jordan. “Ms. Zanos was a model of service in her journalism, volunteer work for ACHIEVA, and rallying turkey donations for the hungry. Our work also aims to provide a public service, advancing diversity and inclusion in media, with a particular focus on people with disabilities.”
Previous winners of ACHIEVA’s Excellence in Media awards include HBO’s Vice News, which in 2017 reported on ACHIEVA clients who rely on Medicaid to work and thrive.
Erin Gannon in the podcast studio at Point Park University Center for Media Innovation
The Look Who’s Here! series of audio and video interviews began in 2017. Founding host Erin Gannon, who met Jordan through Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh, received support from Unabridged Press to conduct interviews at Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation and at locations around Pittsburgh. Gannon received a Press Club of Western Pennsylvania Golden Quill award for her interview with recently retired ACHIEVA CEO Marsha Blanco about Blanco’s many years of advocacy, and her personal history with closing institutions that housed people with disabilities and mental illnesses.
“I think it’s totally awesome,” Gannon said of Look Who’s Here! “It’s a new experience and I love trying new things.”
Jordan’s also coached other interviewers for the program, including CCAC student Mark Steidl, who also won a Golden Quill in the student features podcast category.
Actress Ann Talman leans over Mark Steidl’s wheelchair. They are in front of a backdrop for the ReelAbilities Film Festival in Pittsburgh. Photo: ReelAbilities Film Festival.
In other award news, the Awesome Pittsburgh trustees generously granted $1,000 toward the production of a video episode of Look Who’s Here! Gannon will interview a musician in the style of carpool karaoke—an interview and singalong format popularized by UK Late Late Show Host James Corden.
“Our carpool karaoke video episode will demonstrate that people with disabilities often have the same human curiosity and joy in music and good conversation that connects us all, whether or not we identify as having a disability,” says Jordan.
The Awesome grant includes a stipend for an individual with autism to work as a production assistant.
“Until this point, Look Who’s Here! has been a volunteer labor of love for all of us,” says Jordan. “This grant represents one step toward growing new and meaningful paid work opportunities for people with disabilities.”
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