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

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/.  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Overseas Press Club of America

CONTACT: Lisa Fleming, +1-212-265-2839, or Sonya Fry, +1-212-626-9220

Web Site: http://www.opcofamerica.org/

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Profile: International Entertainment