Mizzima Editor-in-Chief and founder Soe Myint dedicated his East-West Center’s International Media Conference award this week to his fellow journalists at Mizzima and other independent media organizations reporting on the crisis in Myanmar.

At an awards banquet held as part of the East-West Center’s International Media Conference this week in Honolulu, the Center recognized seven journalists on Tuesday who exemplify the impact that EWC media programme participants have had throughout Asia and the Pacific.

Since they began in 2014, the “Journalists of Courage and Impact” awards have been given out at each of the Center’s biennial media conferences, with 22 recipients thus far. After accepting their awards from EWC President Suzanne Vares-Lum and former Hawaii Governor John Waihe‘e, a member of the Center’s governing board, this year’s honorees spoke about the importance of the free press in this era of distrust, linking back to the conference theme of “Connecting in a Zero-Trust World.”