NEW YORK, February 21 2005
Two Indians are among winners of The Washington Post
and The New York Times awards for deadline news reporting
in 2004. Indian correspondent of Washington Post Rama
Lakshmi and Indian origin staff writer of Florida-based
St Petersburg Times Babita Persaud were named by the
American Society of Newspaper Editors as winners of
its awards on Saturday.
The Jesse Laventhol Prize for deadline reporting
by a team was awarded to the Post for its coverage
of the devastating tidal wave disaster, which hit
South Asia on Boxing Day. Michael Dobbs, Rama Lakshmi,
John Lancaster, Peter Goodman and Alan Sipress comprised
the team lauded by the judges for delivering "a
stunning amount of information (that) blended a seeping
narrative with clarity and economy of expression."
Dexter Filkins of the Times was awarded the Laventhol
prize for deadline reporting by an individual for
his coverage of urban warfare in Fallujah, Iraq.
The Jesse Laventhol prizes each carry a $10,000 cash
award. The awards will be presented April 14 in Washington.
Other winners of ASNE awards, each carrying a $2,500
prize included Babita Persaud of the St. Petersburg
(Florida) Times , the Freedom Forum/ASNE Award for
Outstanding Writing on Diversity, for her stories
about arranged marriages in modern America.
Others who received the award include M J Wilde of
The Albuquerque (New Mexico) Tribune for commentary/column
writing, Helen O'Neill of The Associated Press for
non-deadline writing among others.PTI
