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Romanian, Zimbabwean journalists win 2004 Kurt Schork Awards
The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
September 05, 2004

http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/events/schork/winners/

Andrew Meldrum, freelance reporter for The Guardian, contributed reports from Zimbabwe that exemplify the old adage-no less true for being a cliché-that journalism is the first draft of history. In the case of his reporting from Zimbabwe, second draft might be true as well. For what we know about the brutality of the Mugabe regime, and about the suffering of the Zimbabwean people, we know in very large measure from Meldrum's extraordinary reporting. It is work that instructs both politically and humanly by a reporter of remarkable courage, commitment and lucidity.

Currently a resident of Pretoria, South Africa, Meldrum was a freelance journalist in Harare, Zimbabwe from 1980-2003. In addition to The Guardian, his articles have appeared in The Observer (UK), The New York Times and The New Republic. Meldrum has a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College and a master's degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

Liviu Avram (Bucharest, Romania) is a newspaperman whose work represents the best tradition of muckraking. Last year, he received an honorable mention for investigating local corruption. This year, he wins the Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism for digging out the sordid tale of nepotism by Romania's European Integration Minister who used her influence to divert EU to contracts to businesses run by her son, husband and relatives in German. Avram's relentless digging led to the Minister's resignation.

Avram is an investigative journalist with Adevarul, a daily newspaper in Bucharest, Romania. Prior to joining the newspaper, Avram served as editor-in-chief of Monitorul de Bacau and as a reporter for Evenimentul zilei, both newspapers in Bacau county, Romania. A graduate of the Polytechnic University in Jassy, Romania, Avram is also an instructor at The Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest.

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