OPC Marks 70 Years with Annual Awards Dinner; Ruth Gruber Honored with The Fay Gillis Wells Award; Jim Lehrer Receives OPC President's Award

NEW YORK, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The Overseas Press Club of America marks 70 years at its annual awards dinner honoring the finest in international journalism. Ruth Gruber will be honored in the name of founding member, Fay Gillis Wells; Jim Lehrer will receive the OPC President's Award; and 20 additional category winners will be presented.

The OPC awards will be presented by Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent, at an April 22 dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. OPC President Allan Dodds Frank selected Jim Lehrer of The NewsHour on PBS to receive the President's Award for his outstanding contribution to American understanding of world news.

"It's a big anniversary for the OPC, founded in 1939," said OPC President Allan Dodds Frank. "Even in difficult times, we are presenting another thriving awards program that gives glory to the international reporters, photographers, editors, writers and cartoonists."

Cesar Rene Blanco Villalon from ZETA in Tijuana, Mexico will light the Press Freedom Candle honoring journalists killed during 2008.

Unlike in previous years, no news organization dominated the awards in 2008. The Washington Post and The New Yorker each earned two awards. Agence France-Presse is a first-time OPC Award winner.

Following is a complete list of winners:

    Newspaper and news services

    THE HAL BOYLE AWARD
    Best newspaper or news service reporting from abroad
    Ken Ellingwood, Evelyn Larrubia, Richard Marosi,
     Sam Quinones, Richard A. Serrano, Tracy Wilkinson
    Los Angeles Times, "Mexico Under Siege"


    THE BOB CONSIDINE AWARD
    Best newspaper or news service interpretation of international affairs
    SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN, The Washington Post, "Iraq:  The Inheritors"


    THE MALCOLM FORBES AWARD
    Best business reporting from abroad in newspapers or news services
    ALAN BJERGA, CARLOS CAMINADA, ALISON FITZGERALD, JASON
     GALE, LUZI ANN JAVIER, ALAN KATZ, IAN KATZ, ARI LEVY, PIUS
     LUKONG, HELEN MURPHY, CHRISTOPHER SWANN, PETER ROBISON
    Bloomberg News, "Recipe for Famine"


    THE MADELINE DANE ROSS AWARD
    Best international reporting in the print medium showing a
     concern for the human condition
    WILLIAM FINNEGAN, The New Yorker, "The Countertraffickers"


    THE WHITMAN BASSOW AWARD
    Best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues
    MARTIN SMITH and CHRIS DURRANCE for Rain Media
    MICHAEL SULLIVAN and DAVID FANNING for Frontline
    Rain Media for Frontline, "Heat"


    THE ROBERT SPIERS BENJAMIN AWARD
    Best reporting in any medium on Latin America
    ALMA GUILLERMOPRIETO, The New Yorker, "Days of the Dead:  The New
     Narcocultura"


    THE JOE and LAURIE DINE AWARD
    Best international reporting in any medium dealing with human rights
    AMY GOLDSTEIN and DANA PRIEST, The Washington Post, "Careless Detention"


    Cartoons

    THE THOMAS NAST AWARD
    Best cartoons on international affairs
    STEPHEN P. BREEN, The San Diego Union-Tribune


    Photography

    THE ROBERT CAPA GOLD MEDAL AWARD
    Best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional
     courage and enterprise
    SHAUL SCHWARZ, Getty Images for Newsweek, "Kenya:  The Wreckage of a
     Democracy"


    THE OLIVIER REBBOT AWARD
    Best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines and books
    STEPHANIE SINCLAIR, VII / The New York Times Magazine, "A Cutting
     Tradition:  Inside a Female Circumcision Ceremony for Young Muslim
     Girls"


    THE JOHN FABER AWARD
    Best photographic reporting from abroad in newspapers or news services
    TONY KARUMBA, SIMON MAINA, YASUYOSHI CHIBA,
    WALTER ASTRADA, ROBERTO SCHMIDT, Agence France-Presse
    "Kenya Vote Violence"


    FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
    Best feature photography published in any medium on an international theme
    PATRICK FARRELL, The Miami Herald, "A People in Distress:
     Haiti's Year Without Mercy"


    Radio and television

    THE LOWELL THOMAS AWARD
    Best radio news or interpretation of international affairs
    JEB SHARP, PATRICK COX, PRI's THE WORLD, "How Wars End"


    THE DAVID KAPLAN AWARD
    Best TV spot news reporting from abroad
    STEPHANIE SY, NEAL KARLINSKY, BETH LOYD, CHITO
     ROMANA, CAO JUN, GAMAY PALACIOS, KATE FELSEN, ABC World News
    "China's Earthquake"


    THE EDWARD R. MURROW AWARD
    Best TV interpretation or documentary on international affairs
    TED KOPPEL, The Koppel Group / Discovery Network
    "The People's Republic of Capitalism"


    THE CARL SPIELVOGEL AWARD
    Best international reporting in the broadcast media showing a concern
     for the human condition
    KARIN C. FALCK, LOUI BERNAL, PAMELA HOGAN, NINA CHAUDRY, ERIN CHAPMAN,
     AARON BROWN, Thirteen / WNET.org, "Wide Angle:  Birth of a Surgeon"


    Magazines and books

    THE ED CUNNINGHAM AWARD
    Best magazine reporting from abroad
    RICHARD BEHAR, Fast Company, "China Storms Africa"


    THE MORTON FRANK AWARD
    Best business reporting from abroad in magazines
    KEITH EPSTEIN, BRIAN GROW, BEN ELGIN, CLIFF EDWARDS,
    CHI-CHU TSCHANG, BRIAN BURNSED, BusinessWeek, "Cyber War"


    THE CORNELIUS RYAN AWARD
    Best nonfiction book on international affairs
    DEXTER FILKINS, Alfred A. Knopf, "The Forever War"


    Online

    ONLINE JOURNALISM AWARD
    Best web coverage of international affairs
    THE INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS, The Center for
     Public Integrity, "Tobacco Underground:  The Booming Global Trade
     in Smuggled Cigarettes"

For more information on OPC visit: http://www.opcofamerica.org/.