David Hoffman wins the 1998 SAIS-Novartis Prize

David Hoffman, Moscow Bureau Chief of The Washington Post, is the winner of the 1998 SAIS- Novartis Prize for Excellence in International Journalism for his ten reports entitled "Russia." The winning entry is the culmination of a year-long reporting project on the legacy of former Soviet weapons sites in post-Communist Russia.

"In this extraordinary series of investigative reports, David Hoffman brought to the attention of Russia -- and the world -- previously undisclosed threats of chemical weapon leakage, high radiation levels, nuclear seepage from rotting Russian submarines and migrating technology and talent, along with a penetrating analysis of the decay of the Russian early warning radar system. These articles are an outstanding example of reporting by a single journalist, and they set a high standard of excellence in international journalism," said Paul Wolfowitz, Dean of The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University.

Established in 1995 by The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University, and supported by an unrestricted grant from Novartis, Ltd., The SAIS-Novartis Prize was created to recognize outstanding achievement in the coverage of international affairs. This $15,000 award is presented annually to one or more journalists whose work has brought to public attention a topic of international importance. The prize is open to all journalists in all media. This year's entries came from 32 countries in 20 languages.

In addition to the $15,000 first prize, nine other finalists were recognized. The Wall Street Journal's team of Michael Siconolfi, Anita Raghavan, Mitchell Pacelle, Michael R. Sesit, Steve Liesman, Andrew Higgins, David Wessel and Bob Davis was first runner-up for the four-part series "Markets under Siege." Hasan Mujtaba of Pakistan was the second runner-up for "Among the Sand Dunes of the India-Pakistan Border," which was published in the South Asian magazine HIMAL based in Nepal. The other seven finalists were:

- Christopher L. Hedges of The New York Times (US) for his ten reports on Kosovo.

- Yevgenia Albats for "Our Man in Tehran," published in Novaya Gazeta (Russia).

- C?dida Pinto of SIC Television (Portugal) for "Surviving in Guinea-Bissau."

- Richard Read of The Oregonian (US) for "The French Fry Connection."

- David E. Kaplan of U.S. News and World Report (US) for "The Looting of Russia."

- Jeremy Bowen of BBC News (UK) for "Arafat's Authority."

- Carla Power of NEWSWEEK (US) for "In the Shadow of the Taliban."

David Hoffman's winning articles on Russia were selected by a distinguished panel of jurors which included Bambang Harymurti, Deputy Chief Editor of TEMPO, the Indonesian weekly news magazine; Josef Joffe, columnist and Editorial Page Editor of the S?deutsche Zeitung in Munich, Germany; Don Oberdorfer, award-winning former diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, author of Tet!, The Two Koreas and currently at work on a biography of Mike Mansfield; Carlos Puig, News Director of CNI Television (channel 40) in Mexico, Nieman fellow at Harvard University (1997-98); Edith Grace Ssempala, Ambassador of Uganda to the United States; Bob Zelnick, former ABC News correspondent, author of the just published, Al Gore: A Political Life and Paul Wolfowitz, Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at The Johns Hopkins University.

For more information, contact Felisa Neuringer Klubes at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].