2014 Burke Awards

Every year the BBG presents the David Burke Distinguished Journalism Awards to recognize courage, integrity and professionalism of journalists working for U.S. international media.

Voice of America

  • Idriss Fall, French-to-Africa Service
  • Anne Look, VOA Central News
  • Bagassi Koura, French-to-Africa Service

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

  • Ukrainian Service, Kyiv Bureau

Office of Cuba Broadcasting

  • Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina, independent journalist

Radio Free Asia

  • Moe Thu Aung, Myanmar Service

Middle East Broadcasting Networks

  • Maitham Al-Shibani, Alhurra-Iraq
  • Omar Adnan Al-Obaidi, Alhurra-Iraq

Internet

WEBBY AWARDS

Websites / Radio and Podcasts (Official Honoree)

RFE/RL was recognized for the third time as an Official Honoree in the Websites / Radio and Podcasts category.

 

THE COMMUNICATOR AWARDS

Silver in Online Video

RFE/RL won a Silver Award in the Online Video – Other Category for its video, “Oswald in Minsk,” a video report produced by the Belarus Service and the Multimedia Unit to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

Silver in Online Video-Documentary

RFE/RL won a Silver Award in the Online Video-Documentary category for its video “Raising Julia.” Thousands of children in Russian orphanages have found themselves at the center of a political battle between Russia and the United States because of a new Russian law banning adoption of Russian children by Americans. To dispel misconceptions about what life is like for most Russian children adopted into American families, Russian Service correspondent Olga Loginova lived a day in the life of Julia, an adopted girl from Russia.

 

 

 

Mobile

WEBBY AWARDS

Official Honoree for Mobile and Apps / News: Handheld Devices

RFE/RL was recognized for the first time as an Official Honoree in the Mobile and Apps / News: Handheld Devices category. RFE/RL’s mobile website was honored because it offers news, live audio programs, video and audio on-demand, polls, photo galleries and live blogs to audiences in 25 languages.

MEFFY AWARDS

Best Mobile Service (Finalist)

VOA and the BBG Office of Digital and Design Information – The VOA News App was a finalist in the Best Mobile Service category for mobile news application. VOA News mobile and tablet application suite for Google AndroidApple IOS and Symbian.The ground-breaking VOA News application offers original journalism in more languages than any media organization in the world (44 total).

Radio

ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS (AIB) AWARDS

Radio Current Affairs Documentary (Highly Commended)

MBN

Radio Sawa’s report on Syrian refugees was highly commended by the AIBs.

Radio Investigative Documentary (Finalist)

MBN

Radio Sawa’s report on human trafficking was a finalist in the category of Radio Investigative Documentary.

Radio Live Journalism (Finalist)

MBN

Radio Sawa’s report on Egyptian clashes was a finalist in the category of Radio Live Journalism.

NEW YORK FESTIVALS INTERNATIONAL RADIO AWARDS

Best Coverage of a Breaking News Story (Gold)

MBN

Radio Sawa won a gold in the category of Best Coverage of a Breaking News Story. As security forces confronted supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Radio Sawa covered the deadly clashes which occurred in Egypt and led to the ousting of President Morsi on July 3, 2013.

Best Investigative Reporting (Bronze)

RFA

In Born in the USA: Instant Citizenship in Saipan Cantonese Service journalist Vivian Kwan investigated the cottage industry of “birth tourism” in the U.S. territory of Saipan, an island in the western Pacific.

Best Special Report (Finalist)

RFE/RL

Radio Farda’s Mahtab Vahidi Rad was a finalist for The Execution Game

Environment & Ecology (Finalist)

RFA

In Poisoned at the Source: China’s Food Production Up Close, RFA reporters investigated the quality of China’s food in the southern province of Guangdong.

Best News Documentary or Special (Finalist)

RFA

The Lao Service was a finalist for its documentary Waiting for Sombath Somphone. A year and two months since prominent Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone went missing in Vientiane, his family is still puzzled over why he disappeared and his ailing mother is still waiting for him to come home.

Best Human Interest Story (Finalist)

RFA

Jinseo Lee’s The Promise of Freedom: Across History and Continents was a finalist for best human interest story.

Travel & Tourism (Finalist)

VOA

Learning English’s This is America looks at a major issues in American life and society each week, and explores popular places across the United States.
NOT SURE WHAT THIS IS -Best Coverage of a Breaking News Story (Finalist)
RFA –
Ethnic Conflict Erupts with Eve of Eid Crackdown: Tragedy at Aykol

COMMUNICATOR AWARDS

On Air Talent/Radio Personality (Gold)

RFE/RL  – Farshid Manafi, from Radio Farda’s “Pas Farda” won gold in the category of On Air Talent/Radio Personality. Thirty-five years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, political humor in the country’s domestic media remains in short supply. Farshid Manafi, a broadcaster in Prague for RFE/RL’s Persian language service, Radio Farda, fills this void through his award-winning show, “Pasfarda,” (“The Day After Tomorrow”) extracting truth through satire for audiences in Iran five nights a week.

On Air Talent/Humor (Silver)

RFE/RL  – Farshid Manafi, from Radio Farda’s “Pas Farda” also won silver in the category of On Air Talent/Humor. See above.

Writing/Creative Concept (Silver)

RFE/RL – Belgrade-based Balkan Service reporter Milos Teodorovic, won silver for his radio program Gaf nedelje (“Gaffe of the Week”), which employs humor to review the most interesting events of the week.

 

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY/PROMOS

EMMY AWARDS BY THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES SUNCOAST CHAPTER

Promotion and Commercials (Nomination)

OCB TV Marti Fabián Pérez-Crespo
Promo for Grandes Historias, a show dedicated to the dissemination of great works of world literature hosted by Morell de Oro.

Promotion and Commercials (Nomination)

OCB TV Marti Fabián Pérez-Crespo

Promo for Piramideo, the SMS-based social media platform that helps Cubans connect, converse, and share information free from government control.

CINE GOLDEN EAGLE AWARD

Best Commercials and Promotions

MBN Alhurra – Egypt in Crisis is an hour-long documentary that examines the complex situation in Egypt and the unclear future that awaits Egyptian society. The award winning promo coveys, in 30 seconds, the dynamic themes and emotions portrayed in the documentary.

Television

CINE SPECIAL JURY AWARD

Best Investigative Report

MBN
This episode of Alhurra’s Street Pulse  addresses the dangers of working in the Egyptian quarries located in El Minya. The Street Pulse episode showed how adults and child laborers risk serious injury or death from rock cutting machines, respiratory ailments from stone dust, and intense heat in order to support their families.

EMMY AWARDS BY THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES CHICAGO/MIDWEST CHAPTER

Emmy for Interview/Discussion (Nomination)

OCB

TV Marti’s Janet Lomba and Tatiana Riquelme were nominated for La Nueva Cuba de Guillermo Farias. Often referred to as the “Cuban Nelson Mandela”, Guillermo Fariñas has survived 24 hunger strikes while fighting for human rights in Cuba. In this compelling and emotional interview, his mother explains how she has planned his funeral many times, and his daughter speaks of her admiration yet worry for him.

Emmy for Interview/Discussion (Nomination)

OCB

TV Marti’s Isabel Cuervo was nominated for Lilo Vilaplana: Arte y Disidencia. In this engrossing interview, award-winning writer, director and filmmaker, Cuban-born Lilo Vilaplana talks candidly with TV Martí about his art and craft, and how he uses his talent to support freedom of expression in Cuba. The interview captures the artist’s clarity and determination. He conveys his love of his adopted country of Colombia, reminisces about his formative years in Cuba and expresses his longing to see his friends and family in a country free of dictatorship.

RELIGION NEWSWRITERS ASSOCIATION (RNA) AWARDS

National Network/Cable News Religion Report of the Year

VOA

Jerome Socolovsky’s report Nigerian Christians in Texas was recognized by the RNA. The Redeemed Christian Church of God was founded in 1952 in Nigeria. It had no U.S. presence a few decades ago, but has since planted hundreds of churches across the country. A visit to the church’s newly expanded headquarters in northern Texas shows what is in the works.

ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS (AIB) AWARDS

Short Documentary (Finalist)

MBN

Al Youm’s short documentary, Mother/daughter reunion, was a finalist.

Short News Report (Finalist)

MBN

Alhurra’s reporting on the Egyptian clashes won it this nod.

Short Documentary (Finalist)

VOA

Julie Taboh and Adam Greenbaum’s work Prisoner-Turned-Farrier was a finalist in the short documentary category.
Prisoner-Turned-Farrier

Short News Report (Finalist)

VOA

Patrick Wells filed Ukraine Donetsk Airport which was a finalist for short news reports.

 

NEW YORK FESTIVALS INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION AND FILM AWARDS

News: Reports/Features (Bronze World Medal)

VOA
Fire in the Land of Snow: Self-Immolations in Tibet is an hour-long documentary that explores the causes behind the 119 self-immolations known to have taken place in Tibet since 2009. Combining smuggled videos, first-hand accounts and interviews with experts, scholars, and officials, this film provides an in-depth and comprehensive look at the recent history of Tibet and the powerful forces that lie at the heart of one of the largest waves of political self-immolations in history.

Best Camerawork (Finalist)

MBN

Alhurra – The footage used in Coverage of Capitol Hill Car Chase  that Danny Farkas shot was the purest image of what took place in front of the Capitol and provided insight to the police chase and shots fired that caused the Capitol police to tell everyone to shelter in place.

Community Portraits Documentary (Finalist)

MBN

Alhurra – Stories with Akram Khuzam is a weekly investigative series examining social and cultural issues in Arab countries such as unemployment, child labor, illiteracy, female circumcision and immigration to the West.

National/International Affairs Documentary (Finalist)

MBN
Alhurra – Egyptian Democracy

Social Issues Documentary (Finalist)

MBN

Alhurra – Street Pulse takes a unique look at the most important social and cultural issues; examining a single topic each week such as the impact of the internet on political and social change, the role and origin of revolutionary songs, human trafficking and sexual harassment.

Human Interest News Report (Finalist)

VOA

Animal Sanctuary  by Julie Taboh and Adam Greenbaum takes an inside look at an animal sanctuary in rural Maryland that shelters abused and abandoned farm animals.

Special Note

Awards and Prizes

Romania’s “Order of Faithful Service” by President Traian Basescu

RFE/RL

Romania’s “Order of Faithful Service” was given by President Traian Basescu to RFE/RL Moldovan Service Director Oana Serafim and two former Romanian
Service journalists.

Zardabi Award presented by the Independent Azerbaijani Union of Journalists

RFE/RL

Arifa Kazimova, Baku bureau news editor for RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, won the country’s top journalism prize. The Zardabi Award, which is presented by the independent Azerbaijani Union of Journalists, recognizes outstanding journalistic work from independent media outlets, as well as pro-government and opposition media.

Special Prize for Peace Journalism from the Delegation of the European Union to
Georgia

RFE/RL

Pain and Hope from Sarajevo conveys Goga Aptsiauri’s impressions and experiences traveling to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Aptsiauri’s article was informed by his own first-hand experience with war as a journalist working in the conflict zone around South Ossetia.

Prize for Best Blog Report from the Delegation of the European Union to
Georgia

RFE/RL
Be Lysistratas, by Lasha Bughadze

Best Human Rights Journalist of the Year from the Belarusian Association of Journalists and Human Rights Alliance

RFE/RL

Liberty in Prisons,” Alena Pankratava’s signature 24-minute radio show, is broadcast every week by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service. In it, she reports on daily conditions in prisons, drawing on letters sent to her by prisoners who are currently serving sentences and those who have been released, usually with the author’s name omitted for their protection. The letters relate accounts of harsh treatment, unsanitary conditions, and repeated solitary confinement. Pankratava also interviews prisoners’ family members who hope that by speaking out about their relative’s treatment, conditions might improve.

 

Awards Background Image Captions

  1. BBG Chairman Jeff Shell presents the David Burke Awards in Washington, DC, December 2014;
  2. Screenshot from RFE/RL’s award winning online video “Bird’s Eye View of Maidan”;
  3. VOA’s Mobile News App;
  4. Image of street sign warning against pregnant immigrants;
  5. Screenshot from Alhurra’s promo for a documentary on the Egyptian uprisings;
  6. Screenshot from VOA’s award winning documentary Fire int he Land of Snow;
  7. RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service Chief Oana Serafim accepts prestigious award