Rory Peck Awards Winners Announced

The Rory Peck Trust has honoured the courage, enterprise and professionalism of freelance journalists in a major award ceremony.
Burmese undercover team Z and T were honoured with the Rory Peck 2009 Award for Features, which recognises in-depth stories that look beyond the immediacy of news, and Kazbek Basayev won the Rory Peck 2009 Award for News, which focuses on the immediacy of a news story.
Joost van der Valk won the 2009 Sony Professional Impact Award which honours the integrity of freelance cameramen and women in capturing humanitarian imagery that has had an impact internationally and led to a change in perception or policy.
This year's shortlist was dominated by the traumatic human consequences of conflict, abuse, political corruption and natural disaster on ordinary families - and most of all, children.
"From Russia to Burma and Nigeria, the winners of this year’s Rory Peck Awards show the global nature of the freelance community and reinforce how important it is to protect their work, which often takes place in difficult or hazardous situations," explained Tina Carr, Director of The Rory Peck Trust.
"The Rory Peck Awards, sponsored by Sony Professional, are unique in recognising the skill and achievement of freelance cameramen and camerawomen in international broadcast news and current affairs."
"The winners of this year's Rory Peck Awards represent just a small number of a growing and significant global community of freelance cameramen and women who work relentlessly to reveal and report news that may otherwise go unnoticed," added Olivier Bovis, General Manager, Sony Professional.
"These awards are a fitting tribute to recognise their bravery and determination."
Finalists for The Sony Professional Impact Award 2009 also included Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill for China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province and Jamal Osman for World Food Programme.
(KMcA/BMcc)