Global Unrest and Environment Take Lead in Top International Stories of 2013 at Historic 75th Overseas Press Club Awards Dinner

NEW YORK, April 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- 2013 news stories included a military crackdown in Egypt, a terrorist attack on a shopping mall in Kenya, the death of a beauty queen in Mexico, as well as stories on the environment and iPhones.  This year's annual awards are particularly historic as they mark the 75^th anniversary of the Overseas Press Club (OPC).  The Associated Press, The New York Times and National Public Radio won multiple awards.

For the first time ever, one reporter has received two OPC awards for one story.  Rakmini Callimachi won both the Hal Boyle and Bob Considine awards for her Associated Press coverage in Mali that uncovered one of the most significant troves of al-Qaida documents ever made public.  The in-depth story not only explored the opaque world of al-Qaida but also its impact on Timbuktu and Africa as a whole. 

Bob Simon of CBS News-60 Minutes will receive the President's Award for lifetime achievement. Kate O'Brian, president, Al Jazeera America and Kathleen Carroll, executive editor, The Associated Press, will light the press freedom candle in memory of journalists who have died in the line of duty in 2013 and in honor of those injured, missing and abducted. Earlier in the day, David Muir, ABC World News Weekend Anchor, lit the Empire State Building in blue lights in honor of the OPC's 75^th anniversary.

Other news organizations winning awards include Reuters, Financial Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, The Seattle Times, Bloomberg News and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Harper's Magazine, WGBH-TV, CBS Evening News, HBO Documentary, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

"When we started in 1939, one book, The Inside Story, a compilation of on-the-scene stories by foreign correspondents, edited by Robert Spiers Benjamin was the feature of the first black tie dinner," said OPC President Michael Serrill. "Today, the Overseas Press Club Awards are among the most prestigious, recognizing exceptional journalism in more than 20 categories and through multiple media channels.  The breadth and depth of international journalism remains unprecedented, despite the increased risks to journalists' lives in conflict areas."

The Robert Capa Gold Medal Award, which honors best photographic reporting requiring exceptional courage and enterprise, went to Tyler Hicks for coverage in The New York Times of the Kenyan mall attack.  It took much risk to stay on scene in order to document the horrors and aftermath of the attack.

Detailed information and photographs are posted on the OPC website at www.opcofamerica.org.

There were 449 entries in this year's competition. 

AWARDS:

Newspaper, News Service or Online

THE HAL BOYLE AWARD 
Best newspaper, news service or online reporting from abroad 
Rukmini Callimachi, The Associated Press 
"Al Qaida's Papers"

THE BOB CONSIDINE AWARD 
Best newspaper, news service or online interpretation of international affairs 
Rukmini Callimachi, The Associated Press 
"Al Qaida's Papers"

THE MALCOLM FORBES AWARD 
Best international business news reporting in newspapers, news services or online 
Steve Stecklow, Babak Dehghanpisheh, Yeganeh Torbati and Reuters staff, Reuters 
"Assets of the Ayatollah"

THE MADELINE DANE ROSS AWARD 
Best international reporting in the print medium or online showing a concern 
for the human condition 
Adriana Gomez Licon, The Associated Press 
"Death of a Beauty Queen"

THE WHITMAN BASSOW AWARD 
Best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues 
Craig Welch and photographer Steve Ringman, The Seattle Times 
"Sea Change:  The Pacific's Perilous Turn"

THE ROBERT SPIERS BENJAMIN AWARD 
Best reporting in any medium on Latin America 
Simon Romero, The New York Times 
"Latin America's New Paths" 

BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING 
Best investigative reporting in any medium on an international story 
Gerard Ryle  
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Center for Public Integrity 
"Secrecy for Sale:  Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze"

BEST COMMENTARY 
Best commentary on international news in any medium 
Martin Wolf, Financial Times

Photography

THE ROBERT CAPA GOLD MEDAL AWARD 
Best published photographic reporting from abroad  
requiring exceptional courage and enterprise 
Tyler Hicks, The New York Times 
"Attack on a Kenyan Mall"

THE OLIVIER REBBOT AWARD 
Best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines or books 
Robert Nickelsberg, Prestel 
Afghanistan- A Distant War

THE JOHN FABER AWARD 
Best photographic reporting from abroad in newspapers or news services
Jerome Delay, The Associated Press
"Central African Republic Unrest"

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD 
Best feature photography published in any medium on an international theme 
Marcus Bleasdale VII for National Geographic 
"The Last of the Viking Whalers"

TV and Radio

THE LOWELL THOMAS AWARD 
Best radio news or interpretation of international affairs 
Leila Fadel, National Public Radio 
"Egypt:  A Tumultuous Year"

THE DAVID KAPLAN AWARD  
Best TV spot news reporting from abroad 
Charlie D'Agata, Patricia Shevlin, Heather Abbott, 
Randall Joyce, Haithem Moussa, Alex Ortiz 
CBS Evening News 
"Crackdown in Cairo"

THE EDWARD R. MURROW AWARD 
Best TV interpretation or documentary on international affairs 
Ric Esther Bienstock, Felix Golubev, Simcha Jacobovici, Sheila Nevins, Nancy Abraham 
Associated Producers Ltd. for HBO Documentary Films 
"Tales from the Organ Trade"

THE DAVID A. ANDELMAN and PAMELA TITLE AWARD 
Best international reporting in the broadcast media
showing a concern for the human condition 
Habiba Nosheen, Hilke Schellmann, Hemal Trivedi, Dan Sugarman 
WGBH – Frontline, ITVS, Pulitzer Center and H2H Films 
"Outlawed in Pakistan"

Magazines

THE ED CUNNINGHAM AWARD 
Best magazine reporting from abroad
Rowan Jacobsen, Harper's Magazine
"The Homeless Herd:  An Indian Village Battles an Elephant Invasion"

THE MORTON FRANK AWARD 
Best international business news reporting in magazines
Kerry Dolan, Forbes 
"Prince of Insecurity"

THE JOE and LAURIE DINE AWARD 
Best international reporting in any medium dealing with human rights 
Cam Simpson, Bloomberg News and Bloomberg BusinessWeek
"Tech's Hidden Price"

Books

THE CORNELIUS RYAN AWARD 
Best non-fiction book on international affairs 
Jonathan Katz, Palgrave Macmillan 
The Big Truck That Went By:  How the World Came
to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster

Cartoons

THE THOMAS NAST AWARD 
Best cartoons on international affairs 
Kevin (KAL) Kallaugher, The Economist and The Baltimore Sun

Multimedia

BEST MULTIMEDIA NEWS PRESENTATION 
Best use of video, interactive graphics and slideshows to report on international news  
Alex Blumberg, Planet Money and NPR Visuals, National Public Radio 
"Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt"

About the Overseas Press Club (www.opcofamerica.org) 
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York by a group of foreign correspondents. The OPC seeks to maintain an international association of journalists working in the United States and abroad; to encourage the highest standards of professional integrity and skill in the reporting of news; to help educate a new generation of journalists; to contribute to the freedom and independence of journalists and the press throughout the world, and to work toward better communication and understanding among people. 

SOURCE Overseas Press Club of America