CPJ Wins European Journalism Prize

By: (AP) Europe's largest security organization awarded its annual Prize for Journalism and Democracy on Monday to the Committee to Protect Journalists, praising the New York-based group for its defense of press freedom around the world.

The 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will present the prize, along with $20,000, at a ceremony on Feb. 19 in Vienna, Austria.

In announcing the award, the OSCE praised the committee as a "courageous and professional organization which defends the right of journalists to report news without fear of reprisal."

The private, nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, founded in 1981, works in more than 120 countries, seeking to protect journalists by publicly revealing abuses, organizing protests and lobbying on behalf of imprisoned and threatened reporters.

Previous winners of the journalism prize include Belarus television journalist Pavel Sheremet, Polish newspaper editor Adam Michnik and CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour.