INDONESIAN JOURNALIST WINS AUSTRALIAN AWARD

Jakarta, Nov 13 (ANTARA) - Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith MP has announced that one Australian and one Indonesian have won the Elizabeth O'Neill Journalist Award this year, the Australian Embassy said in its website.
"I am pleased to announce that this year's recipients of the Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award are Sophie Morris, a journalist with the Australian Financial Review; and Kartika Sari, a journalist with Rakyat Merdeka," Smith was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
The Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award is in memory of Liz O'Neill, Public Affairs Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, who tragically died in service on March 7, 2007 in a plane crash in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The foreign minister said that Liz O'Neill worked tirelessly with the Australian and Indonesian media to foster a better understanding of both countries through accurate and informed media coverage.
Sophie Morris, from the Australian Financial Review, has a keen interest in improving her understanding of the challenges facing Indonesia in agriculture, fisheries and forestry, food security issues, education, and the role of Australian development assistance.
Kartika Sari is executive editor of foreign affairs with Rakyat Merdeka, a popular daily political newspaper in Indonesia. She has a strong interest in developing understanding and improving communication between Indonesia and Australia and has previously written about political dialogue between the two countries.
To further these aims the Liz O'Neill Award recipients will spend up to three weeks in-country meeting government officials, academics, industry representatives, non government organisations and community members, to build a stronger understanding and appreciation of the issues facing contemporary Indonesia and Australia.
The Award is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australia-Indonesia Institute, and is conferred annually on two journalists, one Australian and one Indonesian. It is open to print, radio, television and internet journalists.
The program aims to assist journalists develop expertise in such areas as foreign and trade policy, development assistance, culture, people-to-people links, and education.
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