The awards, which recognize courage, integrity and originality in reporting, were presented at the Voice of America Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Sok Pov was cited for a series of reports that took him deep into the jungles of northern Cambodia for profiles of former Khmer Rouge leaders who face possible arrest for crimes against humanity in connection with the genocide that killed 1.5 million Cambodians in the 1970's. Sok was able to locate the former officials with the help of local chiefs who recognized his voice from VOA broadcasts.
Rahman Bunairee was recognized for his reporting on the 2009 clashes between Pakistani troops and militants in Pakistan's tribal areas. Bunairee fled to the United States after militants, apparently angered by his coverage, set off a bomb at his family home and threatened him.
The David Burke Distinguished Journalism Awards are named after the former Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent federal agency which supervises all U.S. government-supported, civilian international broadcasting.
Also honored this year: Jin-Seo Lee of Radio Free Asia's Korean Service, Laura Juan Huang of RFA's Mandarin Service, Mohamed Mokhtari and Betty Ayoub of Alhurra Television, and Elena Rodriguez from Radio Marti.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 125 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages and are intended exclusively for audiences outside of the United States.
For more information, please call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959 or e-mail askvoa@voanews.com.
