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Published on September 2, 2007

"A free press is a critical ingredient for any democracy," said National Endowment for Democracy chairman Vin Weber.

"In countries with little or limited press freedom, independent journalists and activists committed to providing citizens with honest news and information often find themselves in the vanguard of the struggle for democracy, sometimes with their lives on the line. This year's Democracy Award calls attention to the courage of those journalists who risk so much."

The four recipients are Hisham Kassem, the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, Kavi Chongkittavorn and Anna Politkovskaya.

Kassem, one of Egypt's most prominent publishers and democracy activists, was until recently the publisher of al-Masry al-Youm, Egypt's first independent daily paper. He was also vice president of the opposition Hizb al-Ghad Party.

The Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) Venezuela is a press-freedom monitoring group established in 2002 during a period of growing concern about press freedom of expression in Venezuela.  Ewald Scharfenberg, director of IPYS Venezuela, will accept the award on its behalf.

Kavi is a tireless campaigner for press freedom throughout Southeast Asia and worldwide. A journalist for more than 20 years, he is the assistant group editor of Nation Multimedia Group, which publishes The Nation, Krungthep Turakij and Kom Chad Luek in Thailand.

Politkovskaya, the courageous reporter for the Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta who was murdered in her apartment building on October 7, 2006, will be honoured posthumously.