May 19, 2011 9:30 am
The Chicago Journalists Association will honor Howard Reich as "Chicago Journalist of the Year" at their 72nd annual awards ceremony this October.
In announcing the award on their website yesterday, the Chicago Journalists Association specifically cited Howard Reich's work as a Producer, Writer and Narrator of Kartemquin's Prisoner of Her Past as being part of the reason for his win. Howard has toured extensively across the US and Europe with the film, tirelessly providing inspirational testimony on his mother's Holocaust-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at numerous screenings and educational discussions.
We congratulate Howard on this most deserved award, and thank him for being such an unfailingly gracious ambassador for the film.
From the Chicago Journalists Assocation website:
"Reich, Chicago Journalist of the Year, has been a [Chicago] Tribune arts critic and writer since 1983, although his articles on music began appearing in the newspaper six years earlier. He wrote, produced an narrated his documentary film, Prisoner of her Past, inspired by his book on his mother's hidden Holocaust past. It is currently touring the world and can be seen nationally on PBS through 2011. In addition to covering news for the Tribune, he has authored several investigative reports, including articles on the systematic theft of royalties from jazz composer Jelly Roll Morton; the private-diary recordings of Louis Armstrong; and the illicit trade in musical instruments during World War II. He is a longtime correspondent for Downbeat magazine and is married to Pam Becker, an editor at the Tribune."
Prisoner of Her Past is currently available on DVD. Chicago audiences can also hear Howard Reich discuss clips from the film at "Their Stories - Reflections of Survival on Stage and Screen," two events in July being presented at the Spertus Institute and the Illinois Holocaust Museum in conjunction with the Lookingglass Theatre's production "The Last Act of Lilka Kadison". Get tickets and information on July 12th at Spertus, and July 19th at the Holocaust Museum.