Are you fully aware of the outstanding journalism practiced by America’s ethnic media? You can be, for $100 and a night in Washington, D.C., next week. With rapid changes in the demographics of the United States, and the aging of mainstream media’s core audience, ethnic and youth media are no longer serving “niche” audiences.

And one of the first people to bring that message to mainstream media has been MGP2006-Amherst participant Sandy Close, of San Francisco’s New America Media. For years, her news outfit, formerly known as Pacific News Service, has organized state awards honoring journalistic excellence in ethnic media. Now she’s doing it on a national scale – and she hopes other Media Giraffe Project collaborators will consider taking part.

If you can get to Washington, D.C. for Tuesday, Nov. 14, the First National Ethnic Media Awards banquet is set for the Mayflower Hotel, with a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $100, which includes both reception and banquet. To register, go to the New America Media website, and click on the tile ad for the dinner -- or call registrar Pha Lo at (415) 503-4170 ext. 242. You can view a preview of this year's winners. There’s also a day of seminars on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the Mayflower, for just another $30 if you’re coming in for dinner the night before.

Wednesday's events include a kick-off breakfast talk by Benton Foundation President Gloria Tristani, an investigative-reporting workshop by IRE' s Brant Houston, and skills sessions on radio interviewing, marketing, writing, blogs and FOI. Let Pha Lo know if you are responding to this note from the MGP2006 blog – we’re trying to organize a group table for dinner. Or email so that we can connect. ALSO: Hotel options.