NEW YORK, Feb. 18, 2026 – Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of The Associated Press, will be the keynote speaker at the Overseas Press Club of America’s Annual Awards Dinner on April 20 at Cipriani 25 Broadway.
For more than eight decades, the OPC has stood as the institutional champion of international journalism, honoring the finest global reporting. Richard Engel, NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent, will present the 22 awards bestowed by the club this year for coverage of news beyond the borders of the United States in 2025.
Pace leads AP’s global news coverage from more than 200 locations around the world. Since she assumed the role in 2021, AP has significantly expanded its digital news offerings for media and technology customers and guided the growth of AP’s direct to consumer platforms.
Pace previously was Washington Bureau Chief for AP, directing the news organization’s coverage of the presidency, politics and the U.S. government during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
“At a time when truth is under constant threat, Julie Pace has been a vocal and courageous champion for the public’s right to know and the safety of journalists working in the world’s most dangerous corners,” said OPC President Scott Kraft, editor at large for the Los Angeles Times and OPC president. “We are honored to have this dedicated advocate for press freedom and excellence as our keynote speaker.
Engel has reported from the front lines of wars, revolutions, and political upheavals across the globe, including the Syrian civil war, Egypt’s 2011 revolution, and conflicts in Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Recently, Engel has led NBC News’ coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, reporting from inside Gaza, as well as the war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion and developments in Afghanistan after the U.S. troop withdrawal.
”Richard Engel’s career is a testament to the vital importance of being on the ground to report history firsthand,” Kraft said. “In every International crisis, he is on the scene, reporting the truth with courage and dedication. We’re thrilled that he has agreed to give out this year’s awards for the best work of the past year.”
As previously announced, Raney Aronson-Rath of FRONTLINE will receive the President’s Award for lifetime achievement. She will be introduced by Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler, winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, and professor at the Institute of Global Politics at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Rappler is a digital-only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. Ressa was the keynote speaker at the OPC’s 2024 Awards Dinner.
FRONTLINE and The Associated Press jointly won the OPC’s 2023 Peter Jennings Award for the film “20 Days in Mariupol,” which also won an Academy Award and a BAFTA. Another joint AP-FRONTLINE project, “Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes,” won the OPC’s 2022 Roy Rowan Award. That same year, AP’s “Erasing Mariupol” won the OPC’s Hal Boyle Award.
During Pace’s tenure, the AP has been awarded three Pulitzer Prizes.
Engel has received multiple duPont, Peabody, and News & Documentary Emmy Awards. He recently received the Radio Television Digital News Association’s John F. Hogan Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award for his coverage of Afghanistan, and an Edward R. Murrow Award for reporting on the January 6 Capitol attack.
The Overseas Press Club of America is an international association of journalists based in New York City that works to encourage the highest standards in journalism, to educate the next generation of foreign correspondents and to promote international press freedom and the well-being of colleagues in the field.