Jan. 9, 2007
NAACP President and CEO today announced that Soledad O'Brien, co-anchor of CNN's "American Morning," will receive the 2007 NAACP President's Award. The prestigious award, given in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service, will be presented on Friday, March 2 during a live broadcast (8 p.m. ET/PT) of the 38th Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
O'Brien joined CNN's "American Morning" in 2003, and since then has been a part of the team that broadcast award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath and the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia in December 2004.
Before joining CNN, O'Brien anchored NBC's "Weekend Today" show. She covered the Columbia Shuttle disaster, the Columbine school shootings, the recovery of Elian Gonzales, Yasser Arafat's burial, the funeral of Pope John Paul II and several other major new stories over the past decade. O'Brien was the only broadcast journalist to travel with first lady Laura Bush to Paris and Moscow. She has also reported from London on terror attacks in that country and anchored live coverage on the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
O'Brien graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English and American literature. She has been awarded honorary doctorates by Sienna College and Mercy College. She is active in the community by engaging in endeavors that focus on young people.
Previous President's Award recipients include Susan Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, Jesse Jackson, Ryan White, Kent & Carmen Amos, Bryant Gumbel, Alexis Herman, Lauryn Hill, Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner, Condoleezza Rice, President Bill Clinton, T.D. Jakes and Venus and Serena Williams. Major sponsors of the 38th NAACP Image Awards are FedEx, Verizon, and General Motors. Additional sponsors include American Airlines, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Chrysler, Diageo, Ford and Sprint.
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
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