The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Annual Awards Dinner and Dance, held at Cipriani’s on 42nd Street in New York, offered U.N. officials a chance to relax and enjoy themselves with members of the media, all while enjoying first class dinner and entertainment. At this festive event, UNCA recognized its citizens of the year; U.N. officials Ray Chambers and Awa Coll-Seck, who work tirelessly towards the eradication of malaria. The climax of the evening was the distribution of the 2011 UNCA Awards, which recognize excellence in journalism on the United Nations and development issues. This year, South-South News won its first UNCA Award, given to Mildred Espinoza and Juan Jose Hiciano, for their work covering sustainable tourism from Roatan, Honduras. South-South News is proud of this achievement, and hopes that this will be the first of many UNCAs, as it continues to use media to promote development initiatives.

The Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize, which is given to correspondents who work in written media, was given to Jina M. Moore of the Christian Science Monitor, Louis H. Charbonneau of Reuters, and Joe Laurence Lauria of The Wall Street Journal. Samuel Agyemang of Metro TV won the Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize for broadcast journalism, along with Barbar Lynn Plett of BBC, and Frank Joseph Ucciardo of CBS News. South-South News’s prize came in the form of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation UNCA Global Prize for coverage of climate change, which was also awarded to Nathanial Gronewold of Environment and Energy Publishing, the editorial staff of MediaGlobal News, and Juan Carlos Morales Machorro of Mi Ambiente. The United Nations Foundation Prize, which focuses on humanitarian and development aspects of the U.N., went to Gloria Chang of Guatevision, Tumiso Mashaba of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and Lazaro Fernando Mabunda of O Pais. Rounding out the winners were political cartoonists Clay Bennett of the Chatanooga Times Free Press, Rick McKee of the Augusta Chronicle, and David Pope of The Canberra Times.