GlobalPost Wins Overseas Press Club Award for Breaking News Coverage of Gaddafi’s Capture

BOSTON, MA – The world news site GlobalPost has been honored as the recipient of the Overseas Press Club (OPC) award for Online Coverage of Breaking News for its reporting on the fall of Gaddafi in 2011.The awards will be given by the Overseas Press Club of America tonight at its 73^rd annual awards dinner in New York. The OPC awards honor excellence in international reporting.GlobalPost’s co-founder Charles M. Sennott was also part of a team with the PBS series FRONTLINE that was recognized with an OPC Citation in the Online Coverage of Breaking News category for coverage of the protests in Egypt and the fall of Mubarak in February 2011.

"It is particularly gratifying to win this prestigious award," said GlobalPost Editor Thomas Mucha. “This is a foreign correspondents’ award, and the real honor goes to the GlobalPost reporters who put themselves in harm’s way with the courage, professionalism, and grit that are the hallmarks of excellence in our business.”

GlobalPost was on the ground from the first moments of the conflict in Libya, following Libyan rebels from Benghazi as they marched towards key cities and, eventually, to the capital Tripoli.In April 2011, GlobalPost correspondent James Foley was captured by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.Foley was held for six weeks before being released and then returned to Libya that September, where he continued to cover the conflict and contribute reporting that was part of the GlobalPost submission for the OPC award, which is given for best online coverage throughout a 72-hour period of a breaking news event.

On October 20, GlobalPost was on the scene at the rebellion’s bitter end, obtaining the earliest reporting and most complete video of Gaddafi’s capture and death in Sirte, which upon further analysis showed in uncomfortable detail the depth of Gaddafi’s torture. GlobalPost correspondents in Sirte produced this breaking news coverage, with additional reporting by editors in Boston and New York. It included a mix of minute-by-minute developments, quick news analysis, and multiple videos of Gaddafi’s capture and treatment at the hands of rebels.Here are the highlights:

8 AM, Oct. 20 GlobalPost reports Gaddafi is dead.

9 AM, Oct. 20 GlobalPost Live Blog

11 AM, Oct. 20Analysis: Gaddafi is dead. Let the civil war begin?

1 PM, Oct. 20Zimbabwe's Mugabe calls Gaddafi an African hero

3 PM, Oct. 20Rebels at the scene recount Gaddafi's final moments

8 PM, Oct. 20Exclusive video: Earliest and most complete footage of Gaddafi's capture

9 PM, Oct. 20Video: Gaddafi's captors speak to GlobalPost's Tracey Shelton

10 AM, Oct. 21Celebrations tempered by questions surrounding Gaddafi's death

10 AM, Oct. 22 Was Gaddafi executed? A rebel on the scene says so.

10 AM, Oct. 22 Video: Human Rights Watch investigates Gaddafi's death

10 AM, Oct. 24 GlobalPost uncovers evidence that Gaddafi was sodomized after his capture 

In February 2011 as the protests in Egypt sent shock waves around the country and the world, the PBS series FRONTLINE quickly dispatched teams to Cairo.Gaining unique access to the Muslim Brotherhood as well as Egypt's activists, GlobalPost’s Charles Sennott and his team sent back written dispatches, video and photographs that were part of FRONTLINE’s website, which was honored with the OPC Citation.The website also includes an innovative social media timeline with tweets, blog posts, photos and YouTube videos that serve as a record of the unfolding revolution.

Sennott said: “We are particularly proud to have won recognition in the Breaking News category where we showed our team can excel at fast-paced coverage on a story like Libya and where in partnership with FRONTLINE we proved we can also do well in a more documentary approach in deciphering the history and sweep of a news event as big as the revolution in Egypt.”

“The strength of GlobalPost is its versatility in doing both of these, and it’s a big honor for all of us to be recognized for that,” Sennott added.

In April, GlobalPost was honored as the recipient of a 2011 George Foster Peabody Award for its “On Location” video series and in February GlobalPost received ten Best in Business Journalism Awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW).