Contact: Patricia Kranz
80th Annual Overseas Press Club Awards Recognize Finest International Reporting in 21 Categories; The New York Times Wins Six Awards; Legendary Photojournalist Maggie Steber Will Receive President’s Award; Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron to Deliver Keynote Address
NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 — The ongoing civil wars in Syria and Yemen as well as the desperate plight of refugees are the leading storylines among the winners of the 80th Annual Overseas Press Club Awards. America’s oldest association dedicated to international news announced its 21 winners who will be honored April 18 at a dinner in New York.
“These awards showcase the most important elements of international reporting: courage, creativity and bravery,” says Pancho Bernasconi, president, Overseas Press Club of America. “These stories also demonstrate why a free press is an essential part of a democracy.”
In addition to six awards covering the Syrian and Yemen conflicts, there were five awards for outstanding reporting of the global refugee crisis affecting four different continents.
Among the winners are imprisoned Reuters correspondents Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo who chronicled the Myanmar government atrocities against the Rohingya. Other winners told the stories of refugees fleeing war in Syria and Yemen, a collapsed economy in Venezuela and brutal organized crime violence in Central America.
The New York Times led all news organizations with six awards, including a podcast on the “Caliphate and ISIS,” editorial cartoons, “The Death and Life of a Gaza Medic,” a Times Magazine story tracing the creation of a bomb in Arizona to its devastating impact during the war in Yemen and a story revealing how U.S. public relations and consulting firms deliver high-paid services to authoritarian regimes in China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The Times Magazine also shared the Whitman Bassow environmental reporting award with ProPublica on surging carbon emissions in Southeast Asia.
Two-time winners are The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters and VICE News. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting supported three of the winning awards.
Freelance writer Anand Gopal won for a third consecutive year in the best magazine-style, long-form narrative feature category with “Syria’s Last Bastion of Freedom” in The New Yorker, a look at brave residents surviving in a war-torn village.
The first-ever Flora Lewis Award for commentary went to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin for “Stress Test for Democracies: Populism, Autocrats, China and Trump.”
The OPC President’s Award goes to veteran photojournalist Maggie Steber, a 1988 OPC Award winner, who has worked in 64 countries during her career focusing on humanitarian, cultural and social stories.
“Maggie Steber’s body of work shows that dedication to the pursuit of stories and journalistic ideals is worthwhile and noble and has a profound impact on the audience and the subjects of the work,” said Bernasconi.
Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron will deliver the keynote address and the evening’s emcee will be NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt.
The OPC Awards will be live-streamed. Please follow us on Twitter @opcofamerica and tweet using #OPCAwards80.
Detailed information and photographs will be posted on the OPC website on April 18 at www.opcofamerica.org. Contact patricia@opcofamerica.org or (212) 626-9220, if you wish to cover the award presentations in person.
Purchase tickets for the Annual Awards Dinner here >>
For a full list of award winners, see below. To see citation (runner-up) winners, click on this link.
AWARDS
THE HAL BOYLE AWARD
Best newspaper, news service or digital reporting from abroad
Sponsor: Norman Pearlstine in memory of Jerry Flint
Sudarsan Raghavan
The Washington Post
“Yemen’s War and Humanitarian Crisis”
Judges: Classic intrepid solo reporting matched with beautiful writing, human faces and big picture analysis.
THE BOB CONSIDINE AWARD
Best newspaper, news service or digital interpretation of international affairs
Sponsor: William J. Holstein and Rita Sevell
Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and colleagues
Reuters
“Myanmar Burning”
Judges: Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo remain in prison. This award for “Myanmar Burning” is a tribute to their spirit.
THE ROBERT CAPA GOLD MEDAL AWARD
Best photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise published in any medium
Sponsor: Getty Images
Carolyn Van Houten
The Washington Post
“The Road to Asylum: Inside the Migrant Caravans”
Judges: This award is not just for her talent as a photographer, but for her compassion and courage in storytelling.
THE OLIVIER REBBOT AWARD
Best photographic news reporting from abroad published in any medium
Sponsor: The Coca-Cola Company
Nariman El-Mofty
The Associated Press, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
“Yemen: On The Edge”
Judges: The jury saw several strong portfolios from Yemen – a country that, until last year, had been severely neglected by mainstream media coverage. Nariman El-Mofty’s work stood out.
THE FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
Best feature photography on an international theme published in any medium
Shiho Fukada
Bloomberg Businessweek, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
“For Many of Japan’s Elderly Women, Prison Is a Haven”
Judges: These photos are a humanizing point of entry into any number of broader conversations: about aging, about loneliness, about society’s role in caring for its elderly and the challenges we will increasingly face with growing elder populations.
THE LOWELL THOMAS AWARD
Best radio, audio or podcast coverage of international affairs
Sponsor: Deborah Amos
Rukmini Callimachi, Andy Mills, Larissa Anderson and Wendy Dorr
The New York Times
“Caliphate”
Judges: This series also demystifies the reporting process, transparently showing how reporter Rukmini Callimachi and producer Andy Mills question how they know what they know, who and what they can trust, what more they need to learn and question, and what can still surprise them.
THE DAVID KAPLAN AWARD
Best TV or video spot news reporting from abroad
Sponsor: ABC News
VICE News Tonight on HBO
“The Killing Rooms of Mosul”
Judges: The first international news crew to film inside an apparent Iraqi execution room in the Old City of West Mosul, Vice News Tonight on HBO presented viewers with horrific video evidence of an atrocity that raised serious questions about how the battle for Mosul was fought and who should be held accountable for the killings.
THE EDWARD R. MURROW AWARD
Best TV, video or documentary interpretation of international affairs with a run time up to 30 minutes
Sponsor: CBS News
Kavitha Chekuru, Adrienne Haspel, Laila Al-Arian and Teresa Bo
Fault Lines, Al Jazeera English
“No Shelter: Family Separation at the Border”
Judges: With meticulous reporting and careful treatment, the documentary tracks every step of the process, detailing the confusion, cruelty and pain, without slipping into a tone of outrage or blame.
THE PETER JENNINGS AWARD
Best TV, video or documentary about international affairs with a run time over 30 minutes
Sponsor: The Jennings Family
Karen Edwards and Gemma Atwal
HBO
“Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram”
Judges: Years after the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, the filmmakers share the young women’s stories with dignity and humanity, giving voice to these previously silent survivors.
THE ED CUNNINGHAM AWARD
Best magazine-style, long-form narrative feature in print or digital on an international story
Sponsor: Michael S. Serrill
Anand Gopal
The New Yorker
“Syria’s Last Bastion of Freedom”
Judges: Anand Gopal is not from the war-torn Syrian village of Saraquib, but he immersed himself in the life and soul of the place during six years of brave and brilliant reporting. The result was a masterpiece.
THE BEST CARTOON AWARD
Best print, digital or graphic journalism on international affairs
Sponsor: Daimler
Patrick Chappatte
The New York Times
Judges: Patrick Chappatte’s cartoons for the New York Times were a model of the form.
THE MALCOLM FORBES AND MORTON FRANK AWARD
Best international business news reporting in any medium
Sponsor: Forbes Magazine
Walt Bogdanich, Michael Forsythe and New York Times staff
The New York Times
“The Enablers”
Judges: The New York Times exposed how the brightest minds in the West are linked to some of the darkest deeds of strongmen and plutocrats…with reporting that was powerful, sobering and impressive in its sweep.
THE CORNELIUS RYAN AWARD
Best non-fiction book on international affairs
Sponsor: Friends of Richard Threlkeld
Rania Abouzeid
- W. W. Norton & Company
No Turning Back: Life, Loss and Hope in Wartime Syria
Judges: An extraordinary feat of reporting — a searing account of the lives of Syrians from all sides caught up in a catastrophic war.
THE MADELINE DANE ROSS AWARD
Best international reporting in print or digital showing a concern for the human condition
Sponsor: Linda Fasulo
Mansi Choksi
Harper’s Magazine
“The Newlyweds”
Judges: This superbly written piece breathes new life into the timeless story of thwarted romance, taking readers into a daring young couple’s elopement in rural India and the myriad obstacles against them.
THE DAVID A. ANDELMAN AND PAMELA TITLE AWARD
Best international reporting in the broadcast media showing a concern for the human condition
Sponsor: David A. Andelman and Pamela Title
VICE News Tonight on HBO
“Year of the Dog: Inside the World’s Largest Human Migration”
Judges: Through an intimate portrait of one family, we experience the impact on 287 million Chinese migrant workers who live apart from their families.
THE JOE AND LAURIE DINE AWARD
Best international reporting in any medium dealing with human rights
Sponsor: Philip Dine
Jeffrey E. Stern
The New York Times Magazine, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
“From Arizona to Yemen: The Journey of an American Bomb”
Judges: The forensic, thorough and diligent reporting of Jeffrey Stern brought home the human toll of all those actions and gave voice to people who are little-heard. With a calm sense of moral outrage, Stern shows us how the US government and businesses have blood on their hands.
THE WHITMAN BASSOW AWARD
Best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues
Sponsor: Robert Serio
Abrahm Lustgarten
ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine
“Fuel to the Fire”
Judges: Abrahm Lustgarten embraces a complex issue, attacks its many dimensions head on, lucidly enlightens the reader, and offers the public a possible roadmap for action.
THE ROBERT SPIERS BENJAMIN AWARD
Best reporting in any medium on Latin America
Sponsor: Paula Dwyer
Caracas Bureau
Reuters
“Venezuela Coverage”
Judges: The Reuters’ Caracas bureau excelled in telling compelling stories of the wrenching decision taken by millions of Venezuelans to leave their country in order to survive.
THE KIM WALL AWARD
Best story or series of stories on international affairs using creative and dynamic storytelling techniques
Sponsor: Molly Bingham
David M. Halbfinger, Yousur Al-Hlou, John Woo, Malachy Browne and Iyad Abuheweila
The New York Times
“The Death and Life of a Gaza Medic”
Judges: Mansi Choksi, a friend and reporting partner of Kim Wall, said it was exactly “the kind of ambitious story Kim would have liked to do,” particularly because it “challenged gendered cliches about empowerment and victimization.”
THE ROY ROWAN AWARD
Best investigative reporting in any medium on an international story
Sponsor: Marcus Rowan
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, NBC News Investigative Unit, The Associated Press and media partners
“Implant Files”
Judges: Anecdotal stories have long surfaced about medical devices gone wrong. But the ICIJ-led probe showed that the failures are a systemic problem that authorities have refused to confront. The series sparked immediate pledges for reform from health authorities in North America and Europe.
THE FLORA LEWIS AWARD
Best commentary in any medium on international news
Sponsor: Marc Lemcke
Trudy Rubin
The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Stress test for Democracies: Populism, Autocrats, China and Trump”
Judges: Anyone who reads her regularly cannot help but have a clear and thoughtful understanding of the wider world.