The New York Times Wins an Unprecedented Six of 21 Top Honors at the 69th Overseas Press Club Awards

24 Apr 2008 12:45 Africa/Lagos


The New York Times Wins an Unprecedented Six of 21 Top Honors at the 69th Overseas Press Club Awards; Getty Images Dominates the Photography Category; James Nachtwey Receives the OPC President's Award

NEW YORK, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --

The New York Times captured six of the 21 awards given by the Overseas Press Club in its 69th annual competition honoring the finest international journalism. This total is the most any single organization has won in the annual awards from the OPC. Getty Images dominated the photography category, earning three of the four awards given.


The OPC awards will be presented by NBC News Anchor/Correspondent Ann Curry at an April 24 dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. Photojournalist, James Nachtwey will be on hand to accept the President's Award. Nachtwey has won five Robert Capa Gold Medal Awards from the OPC over the years for his photographic reporting requiring exceptional courage and enterprise. That total is more than any other photographer in the history of the Capa Award, which was instituted in 1955.


Featured speaker for the event will be Paul Steiger, the former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and now editor-in-chief and president of ProPublica. Iraqi journalist Ali Fadhil will light the Press Freedom Candle that honors all journalists killed during 2007.


"Selected from across the media and news organizations, the 21 OPC winners are an inspiration," said OPC President Marshall Loeb. "Their stories and images exemplify the courage, persistence, and creativity of the journalism profession that so generously serves the public."


This year, The New York Times six award wins bests its own previous record of three wins set in 2005. In 2007, The New York Times earned the Malcolm Forbes Award for best business reporting from abroad in newspapers or wire services; the Madeline Dane Ross Award for best international reporting in the print medium showing a concern for the human condition; the Whitman Bassow Award for best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues; the Website Award for best web coverage of international affairs; and the Joe and Laurie Dine Award for best international reporting in any medium dealing with human rights. The New York Times Magazine also won the Ed Cunningham Award for best magazine reporting from abroad.


The other multiple winner was Getty Images that claimed three of the four awards in the photography category. John Moore won for best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise for "The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto." The award for best photographic reporting from abroad in newspapers and wire services went to Paula Bronstein of Getty for "Death in Karachi." The Feature Photography Award also went to Getty photographer Brent Stirton, shooting for Newsweek, for his work "Slaughter in the Jungle."


Coverage on the War in Iraq remained the topic of multiple winners, and other winning entries centered on the themes of growth in China and India, genocide, counterfeit drugs, child brides, and the suicide bombing attack that killed Benazir Bhutto. Winning reports came in from Afghanistan, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan and Venezuela among others countries.


The OPC Awards were founded in 1940 to recognize excellence for foreign coverage in the categories of print, broadcast, photography and the web. For more information, please visit http://www.opcofamerica.org/.


Source: Overseas Press Club

CONTACT: Lisa Fleming, +1-212-265-2839, Sonya Fry, +1-212-626-9220, for
Overseas Press Club


Web site: Overseas Press Club


NOTE TO EDITORS: Full list of winners available at http://www.opcofamerica.org



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