Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been selected by Asia Society to receive the Osborn Elliott Prize, the organization’s premier honor bestowed for excellence in journalism on Asia. The award is presented annually to the best example of journalism about Asia during the previous calendar year. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been recognized for their reporting of the Rohingya crisis, for which they have been detained in Myanmar since December 12, 2017.
In the announcement, Asia Society’s independent jury called their reporting “courageous and risk-taking in its real-time chronicling of mass atrocities.”
Jury Chair Marcus Brauchli added “Four years ago, Reuters won the Osborn Elliott Prize for their coverage of the plight of the Rohingya. They have continued to prioritize coverage of the Rohingya’s desperate situation, backing reporting like that done by Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and providing the earliest accounts of the horrific violence and sustained campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Work like this requires tenacity, commitment, and fearlessness.”
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo will be honored at an awards ceremony later this month.
Reuters recently published the investigation that prompted Myanmar police authorities to arrest Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. You can read the full report here
[Reuters Press Blog]
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