The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) recognized four outstanding female journalists as winners of its annual Courage in Journalism and Lifetime Achievement Awards.
NPR Middle East reporter Deborah Amos, Radio Free Europe reporter Saniya Toiken and Al Jazeera correspondent Hadeel al-Yamani were honored with Courage in Journalism Award, while NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell picked up the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mitchell, who has been with NBC for nearly 40 years, is currently the network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent. Al-Yamani was the first woman to become an Al Jazeera correspondent in Yemen, while Amos covers the Middle East for NPR News. Toiken is based in Kazakhstan, where journalists are routinely threatened, beaten, or killed because of their work.
“This year’s awardees are working in countries that largely go unreported in the United States. Often at great risk, they have managed to bring to light some of the most important global stories of our times while facing immense personal hardship and, frequently, intense threats to their personal safety,” IWMF Executive Director Elisa Lees Muñoz said in a statement.
Muñoz continued: “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be recognizing their commitment to press freedom and the pursuit of the truth through our annual Awards.”
Since its inception in 1990, IWMF has honored more than 100 women journalists from 56 countries as part of its Courage in Journalism Awards program.
Winners were announced at a private ceremony in Los Angeles on May 9 and will be honored in New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles during three events in October.