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About Kurt Schork Memorial Fund

The Kurt Schork Memorial Fund was created in honor of Kurt Schork, an American journalist who was killed in a military ambush while on assignment for Reuters on May 24, 2000 in Sierra Leone. The Schork family and friends of Kurt Schork, with start-up support from Reuters, established the Fund as a 501(c)(3) organization in March 2001.

It was the work of freelancers and local journalists that Schork valued above all. As a result, Kurt Schork’s friends, colleagues from Reuters and family decided the best way to honor his legacy was to acknowledge those journalists with whom he had a particular bond. The Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism were created to honor fearless freelance news reporting, and those journalists who cannot leave their country when the story becomes secondary to survival. Two annual prizes of $5,000 each are awarded, one to a freelance journalist covering foreign news, and the second to a local journalist in the developing world or countries in transition. The award process is managed by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting in London.

The recipients of the awards are honored at an ceremony each fall in London. The awards are administered by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (iwpr.net), the international media development and publishing non-for profit which is based in the UK, US and South Africa.

About Kurt Schork Kurt Schork was lured to journalism late in his life, and at the age of 43 he realized his dream of becoming a foreign correspondent. For much of his career he chose to be a freelance journalist. He was passionate about his job, and early in his journalism career he wrote:

“War reporting is a privilege. After three years, the grime and gore of combat, the dreadful logic of ethnic hatred are no longer abstractions for me. More important, every day I see the grace and dignity of ordinary people trying to survive under extraordinary circumstances.” – Kurt Schork

AwardsThe Kurt Schork Memorial Awards are the only ones that specifically honor the contributions of freelance journalists covering foreign news and reporters from the developing world and countries in transition.

The goal of the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund, however, is to not only honor, but assist these often overlooked journalists with a $5,000 monetary award that recognizes their contribution to news and provides some financial means to help them continue reporting.

Support KSMF The Kurt Schork Memorial Fund is building an endowment to ensure that the Kurt Schork Memorial Awards in International Journalism and Kurt Schork Memorial Scholarships will be awarded for years to come. With the help of committed individuals, an international fundraising campaign is underway to raise the $2 million needed to support the programs and general administration of the Fund. So far, nearly $300,000 has been raised.

NewsIWPR TAKES OVER ADMINISTERING KSMF AWARDS - February 2006 - Having entered into a partnership with KSMF in 2004 to help underwrite the awards for local journalists, the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) has now taken over from the Columbia School of Journalism in administering the awards themselves. The award ceremony will switch to London and be held at the Frontline Club in early November. Visit iwpr.net for more information.

Board of Directors Sabina Cosic, President
Senior Investment Officer - The World Bank / International Finance Corporation

Stephen Jukes, Vice President
Reuters News Service

Anthony Loyd, Board Member
Freelance Journalist, The Times of London

Chris Schork, Board Member
Family Member

John Schork, Board Member
Family Member

Advisory Board Christiane Amanpour
Chief International Correspondent, CNN

John Burns
Foreign Correspondent, The New York Times

Thomas Goldstein
Frank Russell Chair in Business and Journalism, Cronkite School, Arizona State University
Emeritus Professor and Dean, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

John Kifner
Editor, The New York Times

John Owen
Visiting Professor of Journalism, City University of London
Chairman, Frontline Forum, London

Samantha Power
Lecturer in Public Policy
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University

Richard Tait
Director, Centre for Journalism Studies, Cardiff University
Former Editor-in-Chief, ITN (UK)

Martin Langfield
Reuters Bureau Chief, New York