RT SCORES 9 MEDALS AT NEW YORK FESTIVALS, INCLUDING GOLD FOR LIBYA COVERAGE

MOSCOW, APRIL 26, 2017 – RT’s series of special reports from Libya and documentary film H2wOe took home top prizes at the prestigious international and television film festivals, in addition to four silver and three bronze medals.

“Winning at international competitions has become a good tradition for RT. To take home nine New York Festivals awards at once – from everything from war zone reporting to social-issues documentaries – is a new personal best for us. I am extremely proud of our team!” said Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief.

In the “Special Report” category, RT’s series of from the Libyan city of Sirte earned gold, beating out both Deutsche Welle and Voice of America. RT correspondent William Whiteman reported from the frontlines, coming under fire at one point, as the Libyan Army fought to liberate the city from ISIS militants.

RT documentary H2wOe, which chronicles the severe water crisis in the Indian state of Punjab, won in the Environment & Ecology category over Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

In the “News Promotion category,” RT’s two promos for its US presidential election coverage—Hellarious Trump and Hellarious Clinton—won silver. Promos for RT UK’s Going Underground and RT America’s The Big Picture, as well as the documentary film The Shegué, the Sorcerer, and Che Guevara, which details the story of young homeless children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also received silver medals in their respective categories.

RT America’s promo titled The Interview for its show Larry King Now, hosted by broadcasting legend Larry King, took home bronze along with RT’s documentary film She is My Son, which explains why girls in Afghanistan are forced to wear men’s clothes.

Rounding out the awards, the investigative special GTMO 2016, hosted by RT America correspondent Simone Del Rosario, was awarded bronze in the category “Best Coverage of a Continuing News Story.”“It’s an honor to be recognized for telling such an important story as Guantanamo Bay, but the true privilege is to have been entrusted with the stories and experiences of so many people on all sides of the issue,” said Del Rosario.

RT has been distinguished with multiple New York Festivals awards in the past. In 2014, the channel’s Blood and Honor documentary won gold, beating CNN, and Julian Assange’s show took home gold in 2013. Last year, RT bagged four New York Festivals prizes