I’m not at all surprised that one of my favorite radio radio programs, The State We’re In, won both a gold metal and a grand prize at the New York Festivals for “The Benghazi Blogger” and a silver metal for “The Oliver Twist of Kabul.”
Sadly, the State We’re In is no more. It went out of production late last year after the RNW budget cuts.
The good news is that much of TSWI’s archives are still available on the RNW website.
As I’ve said before, TSWI is one of the best radio documentary programs I’ve ever heard. I held out hope that somehow they would procure funding to continue. I still hope that they’ll find a way to get back on the air (or online) someday.
Here’s the press release from RNW:
(Source: RNW)
Radio Netherlands Worldwide has won four major prizes at the 2013 New York Festivals: International Radio Awards. It won a gold medal and a Grand Prize Award for an interview entitled “The Benghazi Blogger”.
In 2011, blogger and journalist with the pseudonym ‘Mohamed’ posted a picture of Gaddafi’s troops coming into Benghazi on his Facebook page. Soon after, he was arrested, detained, tortured and sexually assaulted. After his release, he was diagnosed as HIV+. Yet he was too ashamed to tell his family or friends. He kept silent even after his family arranged for him to get engaged. He’s now receiving medical treatment, thanks to one of the story producers at Radio Netherlands. Yet the blogger who risked everything to tell the truth to power is still living with his secret. “The Benghazi Blogger” won the Grand Award for being the top-ranked piece out of approximately 300 entries from 30 countries.
RNW also won a silver medal for an interview called “The Oliver Twist of Kabul”. The piece then went on to win a special award, again a silver medal, in a competition adjudicated by the U.N. This second award is called the UNDPI (United Nations Department of Public Information). It features a thirteen-year old boy who sells maps on the streets of Kabul to support himself and his mother. His charming salesmanship inspired some clients to sponsor his education – his favourite book: Charles Dickens’s “Oliver Twist”.
Both interviews were originally produced for the RNW program, The State We’re In, which went out of production in November 2012.