Klebnikov Fund winner named

Anton Kazarin, editor-in-chief of the business magazine group Delovoy Kvartal, has been named winner of the 2007 Paul Klebnikov Fund Prize for Excellence in Journalism. Kazarin will be honored at ICFJ’s Annual Awards Dinner at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13.

Klebnikov was an editor for Forbes in Russia who was killed by gunmen while working on a story. The award in his honor is given by the International Center for Journalists in Washington.

Kazarin runs several privately owned, weekly business magazines that reach cities in the Urals, Siberia and southern and central Russia. Delovoy Kvartal produces a rare level of high-quality journalism.

Kazarin has pushed the magazine’s circulation numbers up 30 percent in each of the past two years, diversified coverage to specialized topics, and launched a professional development program for his staff.

For the first time in the history of the award, the Paul Klebnikov Fund will honor a second journalist, Vitali Lipik of Belarus, a freelance science reporter and special correspondent for the online news magazine www.open.by. Lipik has written more than 250 articles on environmental issues such as air and water pollution.