Friday April 27th, 2007
For Immediate Release
Contact: Debbie Pellish
202-463-7575 ext 234
pellish@rfkmemorial.org

2007 Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Award Winners Announced

Washington, DC-- The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial is proud to announce the winners of its 39th Annual RFK Journalism Awards and 27th Annual RFK Book Award. Winners will be honored in a ceremony Wednesday, May 23rd from 6-8pm at the Jack Morton Auditorium at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. Details will be posted shortly at http://www.rfkmemorial.org

The grand prize of the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, as judged by an independent panel of journalists, goes to Donald McNeil, Jr. and Celia W. Dugger for “Disease on the Brink” printed in the New York Times, winner of the International Print category.

"'Diseases on the Brink' powerfully lays out the case for how tens of millions of the world’s poorest people continue to be subject to diseases that could be inexpensively cured or prevented," said RFK Journalism Award judge Tom Kennedy of Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive. "The reporting combines statistical research, interviews with public health experts, local volunteers, aid donors, scientists and community leaders with directly-observed heartbreaking anecdotes about the lives of those impacted by diseases such as polio, measles, guinea worms, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, as well as iodine deficiencies."

"Judges were impressed by the skillful blending of the reporting, writing and analysis that makes clear the scope of the problems, while also articulating the need for continuing donor aid to enable ongoing efforts to eradicate the diseases and mitigate the effects of illness on some of the world’s poorest people," Kennedy elaborated.

Other winners include:

Domestic Print
George Pawlaczyk, Beth Hundsdorfer “Lethal Lapses” Belleville News-Democrat

Domestic Photography
Matt Black “From Dust to Dust” Los Angeles Times

Domestic Television
Diane Sawyer “A Call to Action: Saving Our Children” ABC News

Domestic Radio
Daniel Zwerdling “Mental Anguish and the Military” National Public Radio

International Photography
Mike Stocker, Joe Amon “AIDS Orphans” South Florida Sun Sentinel

International Television
Renata Simone “The Age of AIDS” FRONTLINE/WGBH

Editorial Cartoon
Clay Bennett Christian Science Monitor

College Print
Ruth Bradley “Lubbock in the Dark” Texas Tech University, Daily Toreador

College Radio
Scott Detrow “Treating the Rainbow Nation: AIDS in South Africa” Fordham University, WFUV

High School Broadcast
Lillian Olive, Rachel Miles “Thread of Hope” Hillcrest High School, Springfield, MO

The Grand Prize for the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award goes to Douglas Brinkley for his book, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Taylor Branch received Distinguished Honors for his book At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68.

RFK Book Award judge, Gwen Ifill of PBS praised The Great Deluge noting, “With the detail of a great historian, and the urgency of a survivor, [Brinkley] chronicles the drowning of a great American city in a manner designed to ensure that mistakes are not forgotten.”

”Similarly, Taylor Branch's At Canaan's Edge is a rich narrative that reminds us of the hard decisions and all-too-human personalities that gave the civil rights movement such righteous momentum,” remarked Ifill. ”Taken together, these two books chronicle how far we have come in championing the dispossessed -- and how far we have yet to go.”

Established in 1968 by a group of reporters covering Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign, the RFK Journalism Awards has become one of the largest program of its kind and one of few journalism awards determined solely by journalists. RFK Journalism Award recipients over the past 39 years have brought to light to the lifestyles, challenges and potentials of the disadvantaged in the United States and around the world.

The Robert F. Kennedy Book Award was founded by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr in 1980 with proceeds from his book Robert Kennedy and His Times. Mr. Schlesinger, a former adviser to both Robert and John F. Kennedy and a preeminent American historian, co-chaired the award with John Seigenthaler Sr. since its inception and was actively involved in this year’s award process. With his recent passing, Mr. Schlesinger leaves behind a tremendous legacy of insight into multiple political eras over his scholarly career, generations of inspired readers and students and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, which will continue, as Mr. Schlesinger envisioned, honoring those works that “most faithfully and forcefully reflect Robert Kennedy's purposes.”

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to advancing the human rights movement through providing innovative support to journalists, authors and courageous grassroots human rights defenders around the world.

Source: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial (http://www.rfkmemorial.org)