Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness has won the best International Television Award at prestigious 49th Annual Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, as announced in New York.
Indeed, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is the first Pakistani to win a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the International Television Category. The documentary had previously won an Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards and the coveted Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, in 2016.
The Oscar winning SOC Films and Home Box Office [HBO] production film, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, is based on the practice of honor killing in Pakistan. The documentary chronicles one young Pakistani woman who lived to tell of her escape from an attempted honor killing by her own family.
The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards honor outstanding reporting on issues that reflect Robert Kennedy’s concerns, including human rights, social justice, and the power of individual action in the United States and around the world. The winning topics for 2017 include poverty, the war in Syria, the Flint water crisis, immigration, criminal justice and indigenous populations. The Grand Prize winner and the John Seigenthaler Prize for Courage in Reporting will be selected from the winners of the 13 categories and announced at the May 23rd ceremony at the Newseum in Washington DC.
“In difficult political times, the power of expression and freedom of the press is more important than ever,” said Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “The Journalists who followed my father’s 1968 campaign created the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards in his name, and this year’s winners have produced work that speaks to the spirit of my father and the Book and Journalism Awards.”
“Speaking the truth is never easy especially given the world we live in today where journalists are routinely harassed & forced into silence. I am honored to receive this award and hope to continue telling important stories that affect all of us… in the hope that one day we will leave a more humane world for the next generation.” said Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
