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Siobhan Walsh, Hoda Kotb, Amy Ellis Nutt, Tom Moran at 2011 Women of Concern Awards |
Read our exclusive interview with Hoda Kotb. For a special interview with Amy Ellis Nutt, click here.
The 2011 Women of Concern Awards were held in New York City on June 21 at the Jumeirah Essex House. This year’s recipient of the Women of Concern Humanitarian Award was Hoda Kotb, Co-Host of the Fourth Hour of NBC's Today Show, and correspondent of Dateline NBC. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Amy Ellis Nutt received the Women of Concern Leadership Award. Ms. Nutt is an enterprise writer at Newark’s Star Ledger. Both women were honored for their leadership, contributions to public service, and efforts to empower women and raise awareness of issues relating to the status of women globally.
The Women of Concern Awards event also raises vital funds to support Concern's emergency and long-term development work in 25 of the world’s poorest countries.
Jenny Hobbs, Concern’s Education Coordinator for programs in Liberia, was guest speaker. Ms. Hobbs shared stories from her work in the field, helping communities improve access to education for the most vulnerable, particularly girls, and prioritizing training teachers and recruiting female instructors in Liberia. In a country still recovering
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from a 14-year civil war, gender-based violence is commonplace, even in schools. Concern is working to educate communities about the value of educating girls and the importance of providing "safe schools" in which girls can learn and thrive without threat of sexual intimidation or assault.
Hoda Kotb was introduced by her
Today show co-host
Kathie Lee Gifford, who praised Ms. Kotb's remarkable compassion and respect for the dignity of people, her refusal to do stories that in any way demean others. Referring to her own choice—albeit a reluctant one, at first—to speak freely about her own battle with breast cancer in order to help others, Kotb urged her audience to invest time and money “only in what is important, because time is precious.” The veteran reporter told the audience: “They way you live your days is the way you live your life. I just want to say to Concern, I love the way you spend your days and I love what you do.”
Honoree Amy Ellis Nutt was introduced by Rosemary Parillo, Editor-in-Chief at
Inside Jersey Magazine. Ms. Nutt spoke movingly about the importance of international reporting--and spoke of how humanitarian agencies such as Concern often are the first to bear witness and tell the stories of crises such as the famine in Biafra. Aid agencies often fill in the gaps left by the closure of foreign news bureaus and ensure that US audiences are kept informed about crucial issues in the developing world. Ellis Nutt spoke of her recent visit to Haiti with Concern and the remarkable “industry, creativity and humanity of both Concern staff and the Haitian people” in their battle to rebuild the country in the wake of the devastating January 2010 earthquake. She cited the Haitian proverb: “Many hands make the load lighter.”
NBC’s News 4 Reporter, Lynda Baquero, was the Master of Ceremonies for the event.
ABOUT THE 2011 HONOREES
Hoda Kotb is the co-host of the fourth hour of NBC’s TODAY show. She began hosting the 10 a.m. hour when it debuted in September 2007, and currently presents alongside Kathie Lee Gifford. Since Gifford and Kotb teamed up, the fourth hour of Today has been hailed as “appointment television” by Entertainment Weekly, and “TODAY’s happy hour” by USA Today. In 2010, the TODAY show received the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Morning Program. A Dateline NBC correspondent since April 1998, Hoda has covered a variety of domestic and international stories, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, the conflict in the Middle East, and the War on Terror in Afghanistan. Hoda is also a New York Times bestselling author for her book Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer and Kathie Lee.
Amy Ellis Nutt is an enterprise writer at The Star-Ledger where she has worked for the past 13 years. Among her numerous national honors, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. She is a graduate of Smith College and has Masters’ degrees from M.I.T. (Philosophy) and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Before becoming a writer, first at Sports Illustrated and then at The Star-Ledger, Nutt taught philosophy at Tufts University. She was selected to be a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University in 2004-2005, and recently published her new book Shadows Bright as Glass: The Remarkable Story of One Man's Journey from Brain Trauma to Artistic Triumph. Nutt lives in Watchung, N.J.
Concern currently has more than 3,200 workers in 25 countries, implementing programs in livelihoods, health, education, HIV&AIDS and emergency response aimed at tackling the root causes of poverty. Last year, Concern assisted more than 31.2 million of the poorest people worldwide.
2010 Honorees
Fern Mallis, President, Fern Mallis. LLC and founder of Fashion Week
Amanda Rose, Founder Twestival
2009 Honoree
Beth A. Brooke, Global Vice Chair, Ernst & Young
Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Chairperson, The American Ireland Fund
2008 Honoree
Valerie Salembier, SVP & Publisher, Harper’s Bazaar
2007 Honoree
Barbara Krumsiek, Chair, CEO & President, Calvert Group, Ltd.
2006 Honoree
Ann Curry, Co-Anchor, Dateline NBC, News Anchor, NBC News Today
2005 Honoree
Pat Mitchell, CEO PBS
2004 Honoree
Carole Black President & CEO Lifetime Entertainment Services
2003 Honoree
Eileen Naughton, President, TIME
For more information about the 2011 Women of Concern Awards Luncheon, please contact Sandra Feeney-Charles at (212) 557-8000 or events.usa@concern.net.
