(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA) — Lebanese-Australian journalist Rania Abouzeid was recently awarded with one of the highest honors in journalism for her extensive special reporting on the Islamic State and their emergence in Iraq and Syria.
Abouzeid will receive the George Polk Award at a ceremony in New York on April 10. The awards, given by Long Island University, place a premium on investigative and enterprising reporting that gains attention and achieves results.
The award committee released the following statement about Abouzeid:
Australian-Lebanese journalist Rania Abouzeid will receive the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting for “The Jihad Next Door,” an extensive and authoritative account of the rise of the Islamic State, published online by Politico Magazine. Abouzeid gained access to Jihadist fighters and their leaders, showing how they used the conflict in Syria to gain strength and support, outflanking badly equipped and disorganized moderate rebels to form a powerful and more dangerous offshoot of Al-Qaeda.
Abouzeid, a daughter of Lebanese immigrants, has 15 years of experience reporting in the Middle East.
“Thank you for all kind words re (sic) Polk award,” Abouzeid wrote on Twitter. “Honored & humbled. Thanks to @politico which ran my piece at length. Congrats to other winners.”
To read Abouzeid’s award-winning report, click here.