Press Release Excerpt

C.J. CHIVERS WINNER OF THE 2007 MICHAEL KELLY AWARD

WASHINGTON - David Bradley, chairman of Atlantic Media Company, announced tonight that C.J. Chivers is this year's recipient of the Michael Kelly Award. He won for a reconstruction of the 2004 Beslan school siege written for Esquire.

The $25,000 award is given annually to a journalist whose work exemplifies a quality that animated Michael Kelly's own career: the fearless pursuit and expression of truth. Kelly, who was the editor of two Atlantic Media publications, The Atlantic and National Journal, was killed while covering the war in Iraq in 2003.

According to a statement from the award judges, "Chivers produced an extraordinary hour-by-hour account of the school siege that is impossible to put down. Through careful, persistent reporting, Chivers provided Esquire readers with a haunting look at how innocent hostages, Chechen terrorists, and Russian authorities responded to a crisis that left 362 dead."

In addition to Chivers, the judges recognized journalists from four publications as finalists: Rukmini Maria Callimachi, an Associated Press correspondent; Jesse Hamilton, a reporter for The Hartford Courant; William Langewiesche, international correspondent for Vanity Fair; and Charles Forelle, James Bandler, Mark Maremont, and Steve Stecklow, reporters with The Wall Street Journal.

The journalists were honored at a dinner tonight in Washington.

The finalists were selected from a total of 57 entries from journalists at U.S.-based newspapers and magazines. The award is for work published in 2006.

A panel of five journalists served as judges for this year's award: Peter Canellos, Washington bureau chief, The Boston Globe; David Grann, staff writer, The New Yorker; Charles Green, editor, National Journal; Cullen Murphy; editor at large, Vanity Fair; and Margaret Talbot, staff writer, The New Yorker. Murphy, former managing editor of the Atlantic, recused himself from deliberations and voting regarding the Vanity Fair entry.