January 24, 2006, New York—The Asia Society is pleased to announce that it is now seeking nominations for the fourth annual Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Asian Journalism. The $10,000 prize is awarded annually to a writer who has produced the best example of journalism about Asia in print or online during the calendar year. Criteria for the prize include consideration for the impact of the work, its originality, creativity, depth of research and educational value in informing the public about Asia. The next winner of the “Oz Prize,” whose work was produced during the 2005 calendar year, will be announced at a special program at the Asia Society in New York City this spring.

The Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Asian Journalism honors legendary journalist and author Osborn Elliott, former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, who set new standards for reporting and editing and became one of the earliest practitioners of “civic journalism”—the deliberate focusing of the journalistic enterprise on urgent issues of public policy. Previous winners include Philip P. Pan of the Washington Post (2005), John Pomfret of the Washington Post (2004) and Elisabeth Rosenthal of the New York Times (2003).

An independent jury of distinguished writers, award-winning journalists and Asia-hands, chaired by Norman Pearlstine, Senior Advisor to Time Warner and former editor-in-chief of Time Inc., will review nominations for the prize from both media organizations and journalists. All nominations or direct applications are limited to one per organization or journalist, and must include the following:

Submission Requirements
• Name of journalist
• Complete contact information, including address, email, telephone and fax
• A photograph or headshot of journalist for use at public announcement of the winner (image may be submitted as a print photograph or as a 300dpi image on disk in tiff or jpeg format)
• 10 copies of the body of journalistic work to be considered
• A submission can consist of a single article, a series of articles around a single theme or a body of work including various themes.
• For the purposes of this award, “Asia” is termed as defined by the Asia Society, comprising of countries from Iran eastward up and including Australia and New Zealand. It does not include the Arab Middle East.
• The work must be in English.

All submissions must be complete and received by March 1, 2006. Please submit all materials by mail. Electronic and fax submissions will not be accepted. Submissions should be directed to:

Karen Karp
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Due to the large volume of submissions, receipt may not be acknowledged and only the winner will be notified.

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