Schneps Media newspapers win big
at 2020 New York Press Association
Bronx Little Italy to bring back popular Piazza di Belmont
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR PR. 16-22, 2021 23
Better Newspaper Contest
BY BRONX TIMES
The Belmont Business Improvement
District (BID) announced
the return of their
popular “Piazza di Belmont,”
the piazza-style al fresco dining
plan on Arthur Avenue,
which originally launched
during the summer of 2020.
Starting April 30, throughout
the spring to the fall, Piazza
di Belmont will welcome
visitors back to their outdoor
dining weekend plan on
Arthur Avenue, which will
be closed to vehicular traffi
c from East 188th Street to
Crescent Avenue from 6 p.m.
to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays,
and 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on
Sundays.
The street is open to traffi
c and parking for shoppers
during the day. Restaurants
in the Bronx Little Italy will
also continue to provide daily
outdoor dining as part of New
York City’s Open Restaurant
initiative.
“While the pandemic has
devastated our city, borough,
and neighborhood, we are
hopeful for the future with
the ongoing vaccinations,
lifting restrictions and the
re-launch of Piazza di Belmont,
which has become
popular with our guests and
allows more visitors to dine
outdoors during the warmer
months,” said Peter Madonia,
chairman of the Belmont
BID. “Many of the small
businesses in Bronx Little Italy
are owned and operated
by the same families who
founded them over a century
ago – some of which have already
been through the 1918
pandemic. Piazza di Belmont
will help to support many of
these family-operated restaurants
on weekend evenings,
while the streets will remain
open during normal business
hours throughout the week to
support our essential and retail
businesses.”
The BID originally partnered
with Sam Schwartz,
former NYC Traffi c Commissioner,
to design Piazza
di Belmont, incorporating
health and safety protocols,
six feet spacing between tables,
signage for pedestrians,
temporary street closures
during the weekend evenings
and more. Approved by the
Department of Transportation,
“Piazza di Belmont”
creates a European-style outdoor
dining experience.
Bronx Little Italy’s neighborhood
outdoor dining plan
features many restaurants,
eateries, and local businesses,
including but not limited to
Zero Otto Nove, Mario’s Restaurant,
Enzo’s of Arthur
Avenue, Estrellita Poblana
III, Ann & Tony’s, Pasquale’s
Rigoletto Restaurant, among
others. Reservations at restaurants
are recommended.
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Earns 49 awards for News
Coverage, Design, Advertising
and Best Website Schneps
Media — the parent company
of more than 70 publications
across New York City, Long
Island, Westchester County
and Philadelphia — is proud
to announce that its editors,
reporters, photographers,
graphics artists, web developers
and sales team achieved
new heights in the 2020 New
York Press Association Better
Newspaper Contest.
The annual awards, presented
during the New York
Press Association’s Spring
Conference in Albany, New
York, recognize outstanding,
high-quality journalism produced
by community newspapers
throughout the Empire
State.
Schneps Media newspapers
earned 49 awards in various
categories recognizing
outstanding editorial, graphic
and photographic content,
website development as well
as excellence in advertising.
It’s an all-time record number
of Better Newspaper Contest
awards for the media outlet,
and refl ects the high-quality
work of its team of editors,
reporters, photographers,
graphic designers and salespeople
amid a trying 2020 in
dealing with the COVID-19
pandemic and societal upheaval.
“I am bursting with pride
at the huge recognition of our
talented team, both writers
and artists, both digitally and
in print,” said Victoria Schneps,
president of Schneps Media.
“We are so proud of our
team across all divisions of the
entire company,” said Joshua
Schneps, CEO of Schneps
Media. “These recognitions
prove what we already know
and appreciate: We have the
best team in the business!”
Gay City News, which focuses
on LGBTQ issues in
New York City and beyond,
won 12 NYPA Better Newspaper
Contest awards, including
three First Place prizes for
Coverage of Crime/Courts/
Police, News Story and Special
Sections Glossy Niche.
amNewYork Metro, New
York City’s largest circulated
daily newspaper, took home
two First Place prizes in its
fi rst year of eligibility for the
contest, including Spot News
Coverage and Best Front
Page.
QNS.com, the online home
for The Queens Courier,
TimesLedger and Ridgewood
Times newspapers in Queens,
won First Place for Best News
Website.
The Brooklyn Paper won
First Place in News Series on
how the COVID-19 pandemic
ravaged hospitals, businesses
and communities across
Brooklyn. Rose Adams of The
Brooklyn Paper, the community
weekly for the borough of
Brooklyn, won the First Place
in the Thomas Butson Award
for In-Depth Reporting for her
story on deaths at a Brooklyn
nursing home amid the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Dan’s Papers, the weekly
newspaper of the Hamptons
which Schneps Media purchased
in September, took
home three First Place awards
in the prestigious advertising
categories of Best House Ad,
Best Large Space Ad and, for
its Behind the Hedges magazine,
Best Real Estate Home
Section.
Arthur Avenue to bring back “Piazza di Belmont” to Bronx Little Italy for weekend evening Al Fresco dining Courtesy of the Belmont BID
/QNS.com