November 23, 2018 , 05:17pm

2018 Ethnic Press Awards Night

From left: NEPMCC President & CEO Thomas S. Saras, Toronto Mayor John Tory, 2018 NEPMCC Awardee Roland Sintos Coloma and Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer. (8 Photos: MAG)

November 9, 2018, Toronto City Hall Rotunda

Roland Sintos Coloma, Ph.D., was recently honoured by the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada for Distinghuished Services, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the fields of education, humanities and community. He was one of the five major recipients of the 2018 NEPMCC Awards honoured in ceremonies held Nov. 9, 2018 at the Toronto City Hall.

Roland Sintos Coloma

Coloma is the lead editor of the landmark book, Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility, the first wide-ranging edited collection on Filipinos in this country. As a respected leader in education in the University of Toronto, he assumed prestigious positions such as Associate Chair, Department of Social Justice Education; Graduate Coordinator and Graduate Program Chair; and Co-Director, Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He is credited for creating of a course on Asian-Canadian history, the first of its kind at U of T. He is presently Professor and Assistant Dean, Division of Teacher Education, College of Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. As a respected leader in education and research, Coloma actively promotes, inspires, and encourages excellence in higher learning as he mentors Filipino-Canadian, Filipino-American, Asian and other ethnic post-graduate students so that they too may continue to take leadership roles in Canadian, US colleges and universities. Coloma is an anti-racism and social justice advocate.

Asisde from Coloma, the four other 2018 NEPMCC Awardees for “Distinguished Services” are: Hon. Joseph Volpe (Italian); Mihkel Ranniste (Estonian); Adil M. Mama (Indian), and Rasulan Hoppie (Black Canadian Community).

The award ceremony was officiated by Thomas S. Saras, President and CEO of the NEPMCC and dignitaries, among them Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Andrew Scheer, Mayor of the City of Toronto John Tory, and Councilor Jim Karygiannis.

Altogether, for 2018, the NEPMCC recognized 48 member publications, radio and television producers and directors and also 14 artists and 14 leaders of the various communities. This was the 38th year the organization has been celebrating the achievements of the ethnic communities.

Other 2018 NEPMCC Award recipients from the Filipino-Canadian community honoured that night were five visual artists. They were recognized for their “distinguished work, creativity, love and outstanding expressions in the service of the Arts.” The artists are Isabel Castellvi Grosvenor, Kalayaan (Lala) Garcia, Gil Silvestre, Mel Jaluag, and Michelle Chermaine Ramos. All five, along with 10 other artists honoured from various other ethnic communities, were participants in the recently held art exhibition.

From left: Rick Esguerra, Marissa Largo, Rolando Coloma, Mila Astorga-Garcia and guest.

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For the complete list of the 2018 NEPMCC Awardees, see below:

For “Distinguished Services”: Hon. Joseph Volpe (Italian); Roland Sintos Coloma, Ph.D. (Filipino); Mihkel Ranniste (Estonian); Adil M. Mama (Indian), and Rasulan Hoppie (Black Canadian Community).

Category Individuals “For services rendered to cultural communities of Canada”: Sharmila Sundaralingam (Sri Lankan); Zoi Illiopoulou (Greek (Greek); Aristotelis Koutlemanis (Greek); Frances Delsol (Dominica); Norman A. Hart (Multicultural).

Category Journalists “For lifetime services rendered to Journalism and information industry”: Dimitris Vohaitis (Greek); Ahmad Shah Hotaki (Afghani) Ishkhan Ghazarian (Armenian); Mulugeta Zergaber (African); Sneza Ivkovi (Serbian).

Category Newspapers “For best editorial/free expression, concept and visual presentation”: Lui Ka Ming (Ming Pao Newspapers), Chinese Community); Abdul Ahead KhanDakar (Vorar Alo); Mohamed Busiri (Somali Canadian Times, Somali Community); Katerina Gerasklis (THe Greek Press, Greek Community); Kathy Lin (Chinese Canadian Times, Chinese Community); Logan Logendralingam (Uthayan Canada, Tamil Community); Athanasios Kourtesis (Hellas News, Greek Community); Susana Donan (El Centro, Latino Community); Harry Malawi (Canadian Arab Neetwork Media, Arab Community).

Category Magazines “For best editorial concept, visual and artistic presentation”: “Discover” Leila Monteiro Lins (Brazilian Community); “Be Healthy” Eugenia Bakchinow (Russian Community); “San Magazine” Vesna Nedic (Serbian Community).

Category Electronic Media: Radio and TV: Ersoy Kalkan, Radio Perfect (Turkish Community); Shahidul Islam Mintu, NRB TV (Bengali Community).

For “excellence in production and broadcasting (Online Electronic Media): Roger Dundas, NyBlacks.com (Black Canadian Community).

Awardees in British Columbia and Winnipeg: “CK News”, Gurpreet Singh Sahota (Punjabi Community); “Indo Canadian Voice”, Rattan Mall (South Asian Community); “Hamyarri Magazine”, Sima Ghaffarzadeh (Persian Community); “Spanglish Magazine”, Maria-Margoth Ayala (Spanish Commuity); “Radio Vera” Alexamder Kivritsky; “The Diversity Times/Korean Times” Wong Jae Song (Korean Community); Alexandra Gerson, Russian Radio (Russian Community); Kal Dosanjh, Veteran Police Officer/Vancouver; Kamal Dhillon, Author, speaker and counsellor.

Visual Artists “For distingusihed work, creativity, and services to Arts and Culture”: Kamran Ahmadi (Afghani); Meena Chopra (Hindi); Muhammad Muzharul Haque (Mazhar) (Bangladeshi); GIota Hatzigeorgiadou (Greek); Pinelopi Kapetanoudi (Greek); Alaeni Konstantinidou (Greek); Marianna Patinioti (Greek); Isabel Grosvenor (Filipino); Gil Silvestre (Filipino); Kalayaan (Lala) Garcia (Filipino); Sandro Liberato (Brazilian); Melchor Jaluag (Filipino); Michelle Chermaine Ramos (Filipino); and Luis Alberto Medina Enriquez (Ecuadorian).

Among the guests present, aside from the leader of the Official Opposition of the Federal Parliament Andrew Scheer, Toronto MayorJohn Tory, were members of the Canadian Senate, Senators Leo Housakos and Denise Batters, members of Parliament Hon. Marco Mendicino and Hon. Gary Anandasangaree; members of the provincial parliament Aris Babikian from the PC, Sara Singh, Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition of Ontario NDP, Councillor Jim Karygiannis and the Consuls General of Russia, Indonesia and the High commission of Cyprus. Guests also included family and colleagues of the 2018 awardees, and officers and members of the NEPMCC.

Following the presentation of the awards was a formal Greek dinner prepared by “Catering by Nikkos” and cultural presentations provided by Luba Chernyand and members of the school of Dancing Nancy Athan- Mylonas.