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Broadcaster and former Livingston national judge Mike Wallace dies at age 93

2004 Livingston Awards winner, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, wins Oscar for documentary, “Saving Face” at the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

It was her first time to be nominated for an Academy Award, but Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy walked away with the Oscar for Best Documentary (short subject) for her film “Saving Face,” a chronicle of the disfiguring acid attacks against women that occur in Pakistan. The assailants are often husbands or relatives who rarely are prosecuted. Her win is the first time a Pakistani director has won an Oscar. The film tells the story of two women who are victims of the attacks and the British-Pakistani doctor who helps women with reconstructive surgery. Obaid-Chinoy co-directed the documentary with Daniel Junge.

For 30 years, the Livingston Awards has recognized and rewarded promising young journalists under the age of 35. They are the largest all-media, general reporting prizes in American journalism. They are unusual in judging print, broadcast and online entries against one another, a practice of increasing interest as technology blurs traditional distinctions of reporting media. Obaid-Chinoy was awarded the 2004 Livingston Awards for international reporting for her documentary “Reinventing the Taliban” that was broadcast on the Discovery Channel. She traveled to Northwest Pakistan and interviewed leaders and supporters of the growing fundamental Islamic movement in her home country. The interviews showed leaders who spoke openly about creating a Taliban-like regime in Pakistan that would limit civil liberties and restrict the rights of women.

For more information about her Oscar-winning documentary, go to http://sharmeenobaidfilms.com/2011/08/saving-face-film/