Center Unveils Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting Finalists

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 21, 2008 — The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is proud to announce the finalists for the first Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. Formerly the ICIJ Award, the prize was renamed this year after Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was slain by militants in Pakistan in 2002.

This award is unique among journalism prizes in that it was created specifically to honor cross-border investigative reporting. It is presented by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a project of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C.

This year’s biennial competition attracted an impressive 86 entries from 24 countries, involving reporting in more than 60 countries during 2006 and 2007. A panel of five international judges selected the following seven entries as finalists:

• Michael Kranish, Peter S. Canellos, Farah Stockman, Kevin Baron, Susan Milligan, Rick Klein, and Charlie Savage of The Boston Globe for their series “Exporting Faith.”

• Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker of The New York Times for their series “A Toxic Pipeline.”

• Joachim Dyfvermark and Fredrik Laurin for their TV4 Sweden investigation “ The Illegal Cod.”

• Loretta Tofani for her Salt Lake Tribune series “American Imports, Chinese Deaths.”

• Andrew O. Selsky of The Associated Press for “Guantanamo Detainees.”

• Sven Bergman, Joachim Dyfvermark, and Fredrik Laurin for their SVT –Swedish Television investigation “ Gripen — the Secret Deals.”

• Gregory L. White, David Crawford, Glenn R. Simpson, Alan Cullison, and James Bandler of The Wall Street Journal for their investigation “Putin’s Russia.”

There will be winning entries in two categories — one American and one international — which will each receive U.S. $10,000. The five remaining finalist entries will each receive U.S. $1,000. The winners will be announced September 13 at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Lillehammer, Norway.

Selections were made by a distinguished international panel of judges:

• Sheila Coronel, director, Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia University; co-founder and former executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, where she oversaw publication of nearly two dozen books and over 200 articles in major newspapers.

• Sunday Dare, former general editor of two Nigerian newsmagazines, The News and Tempo; author, From the Newsroom to Underground: The Story of Guerrilla Journalism in Nigeria and Africa; currently Hausa Service director, Voice of America.

• Douglas Farah, consultant; former Washington Post foreign correspondent in West Africa and Latin America; author, Merchant of Death (on Viktor Bout) and Blood from Stones (on terrorism finance).

• Fernando Rodriguez, senior reporter for the Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo; former foreign correspondent in New York, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.; winner, Prêmio Esso de Jornalismo, Brazil’s top journalism prize; author, The Owners of the Congress.

• David E. Kaplan, director, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; former chief investigative correspondent, U.S. News & World Report; author, Yakuza: Japan’s Criminal Underworld and Fires of the Dragon.

The Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting is named after Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The Journal’s enterprising South Asia bureau chief, Pearl was investigating al Qaeda in Pakistan in January 2002 when he was kidnapped and subsequently murdered. To learn more about Pearl’s life, visit the Daniel Pearl Foundation. For more on the investigation of who murdered him, visit The Pearl Project.

For more on the history of the ICIJ Award, visit ICIJ’s website.

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