Letter from
the patron
'The Rory
Peck Award was established to commemorate a remarkable cameraman...
it is extremely heartening to see that others continue to follow
courageously in his footsteps.'
Two and a half
years ago Rory's widow, Juliet Peck, with a small group of close
friends, started what has become a respected charity. In this short
time support has been gained from 21 of the world's major broadcasters
from ten nations and the annual reward we present has come to confer
prestige on its recipients.
The Rory Peck
Award was established to commemorate a remarkable cameraman, and
it is extremely heartening to see that others continue to follow
courageously in his footsteps. This is clearly shown by the astonishingly
high standard of entries filmed in 31 countries. Tonight we will
see remarkable footage from Algeria to Cambodia, from Saudi Arabia
to East Timor.
More often than
not it is the freelance cameramen and women who bring valuable reports
from the inaccessible and inhospitable parts of the world, where
governments would prefer what happens to remain unseen. The entries
which have received the Judges' Special commendation and the three
finalists are a testament to the tenacity and ingenuity of freelance
news cameramen and women.
Money raised
from tonight's award ceremony goes to the Rory Peck Trust, established
to support the dependants of freelance news cameramen and women
killed whilst covering news. This year we have made grants to members
of three families in Croatia, Egypt and France, who have found themselves
in financial difficulties following the death of cameramen.
With our limited
means we are compiling a list of those cameramen and women who have
been killed whilst covering news, and investigating the needs of
their dependants. We have found that on each occasion where the
Trust has been able to help, the fact that the news gathering community
has not entirely forgotten their plight, has been as important as
the relatively small amounts of money that we can disburse.
The Trust's
support for the welfare of freelancers is focused on the establishment
of an affordable insurance scheme accessible via the internet. We
have entered into negotiations with a number of brokers and expect
to make an announcement shortly.
Safety training
is self-evident when one views this year's entries. We are proud
to announce that the Trust has entered into an arrangement with
AKE Ltd as an approved trainer.
Again we are
grateful to Sony UK & Europe, BBC World Television and CNN for
their continued support, which is in itself a recognition of the
contribution the freelancer makes to news gathering world wide.
Viscount
Cranborne
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