United States Agency for Global Media

Springfield, VA — Radio Sawa’s profile of a group of courageous women who stood up to ISIS in Syria took home the Gold Medal at the 2017 New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards held on June 19, 2017. The report “Syrian Women Resist ISIS” was named the best Information/Documentary report in the category honoring heroes.

“Radio Sawa’s team of professional journalists are always searching for unique stories, not found on other media outlets,” stated Brian Conniff, President of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). MBN manages and oversees Radio Sawa. “This report serves as an excellent example of MBN’s dedication to covering stories dealing with violent extremism through exceptional journalism.”

The award-winning report focuses on women who stood up to ISIS in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate in eastern Syria. As ISIS first took over their community, they convinced the extremist group to keep the schools open so that children could continue their education. When ISIS eventually closed the schools and destroyed all of the books, these brave women then took it upon themselves to secretly educate the children of Deir ez-Zor at grave personal risk if they were discovered. They were also able to curb some of the ISIS militants from marrying young girls in their area.

New York Festivals Radio Program Awards honors the World’s Best Radio Programs, receiving entries from around the globe. This year marks the 35th anniversary of this global competition and included entries from 32 countries worldwide. Entries were judged by the 2017 Grand Jury on production values, organization, presentation of information, creativity and use of the medium. The ceremony was held in New York City. Other winners and finalists included NPR, BBC, KBS, ABC (Australia), and RTÉ IRELAND, in addition to MBN-sister networks Radio Free Asia and Radio Farda (RFE/RL).

About MBN