FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, May 8, 2019
PRESS CONTACT: Dillon Lewis
Press@nlgja.org or 202-588-9888
Longtime Hollywood journalist Marc Malkin will present the Lisa Ben Award to Eller at NLGJA’s L.A. Exclusive event
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists announced that Variety Editor-in-Chief Claudia Eller is the recipient of the 2019 Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage. Variety Senior Film Awards, Events and Lifestyle Editor Marc Malkin will present the award to Eller at NLGJA’s annual L.A. Exclusive benefit event in Los Angeles on May 31.
“Claudia understands the importance of LGBTQ representation, not just in the composition of the newsroom, but also in the stories we’re putting out,” said NLGJA President Sharif Durhams. “From one-off features of out entertainers to an entire special issue surrounding marriage equality, as Editor-in-Chief of Variety, Claudia has taken the publication’s inclusive reporting to the next level.”
“For nearly three decades, NLGJA has been at the forefront of inclusive storytelling, shaping culture-shifting coverage of LGBTQ people and issues,” said Eller. “It’s a great honor to be recognized by such an esteemed group of journalists who are equally as committed to lifting up stories of marginalized and underrepresented voices.”
The NLGJA Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage is presented each year to a journalist whose body of work is distinguished by insight and impact through engaging features on LGBTQ individuals, the LGBTQ community or LGBTQ issues. The award is named for the pseudonym Edith Eyde used for her pioneering publication, Vice Versa. Past recipients have included Malkin, People Magazine Editor-in-Chief Henry Goldblatt and Advocate Magazine Editorial Director Diane Anderson-Minshall.
Eller is among the best known and most respected journalists in the entertainment industry. She came to Variety from The Los Angeles Times, where she spent 20 years as a reporter and editor, most recently serving as entertainment news editor. She was a driving force in the Times’ online and print coverage of the entertainment industry. Before joining the Times, Claudia worked as a film reporter for Variety from 1989 to 1993. A graduate of USC, Claudia is the recipient of several journalism awards and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Gerald Loeb Award.
“Since joining the Variety family, I’ve seen firsthand how Claudia champions inclusion in the newsroom,” said Malkin. “As a longtime member of NLGJA, I am thrilled to recognize Claudia’s decades-long commitment to diverse and inclusive storytelling.”
Malkin is the Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor at Variety. Malkin, who joined Variety in July 2018, is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades of experience working across broadcast, print and digital media. He began his career in celebrity journalism at Premiere magazine and went on to write, report and edit for the New York Daily News, Us Weekly and New York magazine. He also served as an on-air correspondent at E! News, and was a supervising producer at the Insider. In 2014, The Advocate named Marc as one of the 50 Most Influential LGBT people in media.
L.A. Exclusive will be held at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s The Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 North McCadden Place, on Friday, May 31 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. NLGJA board director Senta Scarborough will serve as the event chair. Event tickets are available online at www.nlgja.org.
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About NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists:
NLGJA is an organization of journalists, news executives, media professionals, educators and students working from within the news industry to foster fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ issues. NLGJA opposes all forms of workplace bias and provides professional development to its members. For more information, visit www.nlgja.org.