Announcing the Twelfth Annual UNCA Award Winners!

On Friday Evening, 7 December 2007, in the Delegates Dining Room, United Nations Headquarters, New York, the UN Correspondents Association hosted its Twelfth Annual Awards Dinner.

This years UNCA Awards included the $10,000 United Nations Foundation prize for any entry in any medium that best covers the humanitarian and development aspects of the U.N. and its agencies, the $10,000 Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize for written media (including online media), the $10,000 Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize for broadcast (electronic) journalism, and The UNCA Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Awards.

In addition, a special UNCA Citizen of the Year Award was given for outstanding support and efforts to make our world a greener and healthier environment.

The awards are made possible by the generous support of the U.N. Foundation, Antena 3 TV of Spain, The Boston Globe, and UNCA itself.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon showed his enthusiastic support for the UNCA and hard work of Journalist around the world by presenting the awards.

This Years Winners

UNCA Citizen of the World Award:

Sir Richard Branson - Founder & Chairman, The Virgin Group - For his strong support for environmental and humanitarian causes - Richard Branson was introduced by Academy Award winning actress Mira Sorvino.

UN Foundation Prize for Coverage of Development Issues:

Lazaro Mabunda - O Pais - Mozambique - $10,000 - "a very strong effort at documenting national failure on what G77 governments claim is the most pressing UN goal"

Shakuntala Perera - Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka - $1,000 - “A revealing window on how ‘jawboning’ by UN human rights bodies and representatives can generate domestic political pressures domestically for government to clean up its act.”

Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Award for Best Overall Print Coverage of the UN and its Work:

Opheera McDoom - Reuters - Sudan - $5,000 (joint gold recipient) - “A consistent, continuing, and convincing coverage of the Darfur agony and Khartoum mendacity – from the capital and from the countryside; multi textured and fearless”

Maggie Farley - LA Times - USA - $5,000 (joint gold recipient) - "impressive reporting on a global disaster."

Edmund Sanders - LA Times - USA - $5,000 (joint gold recipient) - "impressive reporting on a global disaster."

Godwin Nnanna - Businessday - Nigeria - $1,000 - “A good series ‘from the streets’ of Ivory Coast, tracking locals' assessment of the UN at work there."

Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize for Best Electronic Coverage:

Cairo Bureau - NHK - Japan - $10,000 - “For a broad television audience in a faraway land, this represents a major journalistic investment – and one that palpably captures the feel of a collapsed Somalia”

Martin Semukanya - Executive Producer, Channel Africa - South Africa - $1,000 - “An informative radio report on development issues in Africa, balanced yet critical."

Special Honorable Mention:

Talal Al-Haj - Producer, Al-Arabiya - United Arab Emirates - “for a detailed historical overview and current examination of UN for the Arab World”

As befits a competition rewarding coverage of the United Nations, this year's finalists submitted in Arabic, English, French, Japanese, and Portuguese. The winners will share $33,000 in prizes- but it is the glory that counts!

Entries this year came from Afghanistan, Armenia, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, China, Egypt, Ghana, Japan, Kenya, Korea, India, Lebanon, Mongolia, Mozambique, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, United Kingdom, and the United States, which reflects the unique nature of the UNCA Awards, which are unusual in being international in nature and in not charging an entry fee.