School of Media News

Western Kentucky University’s School of Media will present the 2022 Fleischaker/Greene Award for Courageous International Reporting on Monday (Nov. 14) to journalists covering the war in Ukraine.

Four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Carol Guzy and Editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko and the staff of the Kyiv Independent in Ukraine have been selected as this year’s recipients of the prestigious award. The awards ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. at the Gary Ransdell Hall Auditorium.

Guzy’s career as a photographer spans more than 40 years, from a staff member at the Miami Herald, to The Washington Post and currently as a contract photographer for Zuma Press. Her current work is documenting the war in Ukraine.

Rudenko and her staff of 32 journalists at the Kyiv Independent have not shied away from telling the stories of their war-torn Ukraine.

Guzy will accept the award by Zoom from Ukraine where she continues to report for Zuma Press. It is not yet determined if Rudenko will be able to join the Zoom presentation.

In 2008, Louisville attorneys Jon Fleischaker and Kim Greene created the Fleischaker/Greene Fund for Excellence in First Amendment Issues at Western Kentucky University. The award recognizes a journalist who often reports under dangerous circumstances to protect freedom of speech and lead efforts to better understand populations that are underreported. The Fund also supports WKU’s Fleischaker/Greene Scholars Program, which gives top students in the School of Media the opportunity to take an advanced special topics class and brings nationally recognized speakers in journalism and First Amendment issues to the WKU campus.

The award was postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. Past award recipients include Lineth Bedoya Lima in 2016 from Colombia, Lotfullah Najafizada in 2017 from Afghanistan, Marcela Turati in 2018 from Mexico and Jessikka Aro in 2019 from Finland.

For information about the recipients and the award ceremony, contact Jeanie Adams-Smith, Professor of Photojournalism, at 270-745-4144 or jeanie.adams-smith@wku.edu

-WKU-

Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.