NEW YORK, June 25: Ms Sharmeen Obaid, a Pakistani documentary film maker, received a $10,000 Livingston Award for international reporting for her film ‘Reinventing Taliban’, which she made for Discovery Times Channel.
The Livingston awards were announced last week by Ken Auletta of the New Yorker, Tom Brokaw of NBC News, and Ellen Goodman of The Boston Globe. The prizes are limited to journalists under the age of 35, and are the largest all-media, general-reporting prizes in the country.
The multiple awards winning Ms Obaid recently completed her fourth film for New York Times Television. “Women of the Holy Kingdom” looks at the contributions that Saudi women are making to the economy and society.
Her first documentary, “Terror’s Children”, premiered on the launch night of the Discovery Times Channel (A venture between The New York Times and Discovery Communications) two years ago.
Ms Obaid was also awarded the American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award for “Individual Achievement, Reporter/Correspondent” for her work in the documentary, “Terror’s Children”. She was also awarded the Overseas Press Club Award, (“The Carl Spielvogel Award” for best international reporting in any medium showing a concern for the human condition) and the South Asian Journalist Association Award for the same film.
“Reinventing the Taliban” explores the conflict between the majority and a zealous minority of extremist Muslims who are steadily gaining ground in Pakistan’s Frontier province. The film was awarded the Special Jury Award at the BANFF TV festival in Canada, the CINE Golden Eagle Award and the American Women in Radio and Television award for outstanding documentary in the US. Obaid was also the first non-American journalist to be awarded the Livingston Award.
