Story highlights
CNN correspondent Arwa Damon wins 2014 Courage in Journalism Award
The accolade recognizes women who risk their lives reporting the news
Damon started with CNN in 2004 and became correspondent two years later
CNN’s senior international correspondent Arwa Damon has won the 2014 Courage in Journalism Award, a prestigious accolade that honors female journalists who risk their lives reporting the news.
“Arwa’s outstanding courage comes from her deep conviction to journalism that really matters,” says Tony Maddox, executive vice president and managing director of CNN International. “She is totally committed to telling the important stories in the right way, and she will let nothing come in the way of that.”
Damon started working with CNN in 2004 as a freelance producer at the network’s Baghdad bureau, before becoming correspondent in 2006. Recognized for her coverage of the fierce battles in Falluja and on Haifa Street in the Iraqi capital, it was her reporting of Youssif, a five-year-old boy burnt in a brutal attack, that highlighted her arresting ability to tell a story.
She has also traveled to volatile regions such as Syria, Libya, South Sudan, Congo, Egypt and Kenya. She has covered significant stories such as the Arab Spring, the Red Shirt protests in Thailand and, more recently, the Ukraine crisis from Donetsk.
Damon has previously won a number of awards, including an Emmy and Peabody for her contribution to the network’s coverage of the Arab Spring, as well as the Investigative Reporters and Editors’ IRE Medal award for her reporting on the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya.
The award celebrates its 25th year. The ceremonies take place on October 22 in New York, and on October 29 in Los Angeles. This year’s recipients also include Brankica Stanković from Serbia and Solange Lusiku Nsimire from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“As a journalist working for an international news network like CNN, the gender bias has largely been broken,” says Damon. “Such is not the case for others – both men and women – in the field who have to chart their own course while facing threats at home without the protection of a major news network.
“To be recognized alongside Brankica and Solange as well as recipients of years past – people I admire and respect, whose quality of journalism continues to raise the bar – is humbling. And it’s not just because they are women, but because they are stellar journalists who won’t let anything or anyone stand in their way of pursuing the truth.”
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