WASHINGTON, D.C. December 8, 2004 — A seven-part investigative report that revealed the widespread violence directed at Peace Corps volunteers won the 2004 ICIJ Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting.
For their Dayton Daily News series, “Casualties of Peace,” Russell Carollo and Mei-Ling Hopgood traveled around the world, interviewing more than 500 people in 11 countries, to detail the danger of sending volunteers to some of the most dangerous corners of the world. After filing more than 75 Freedom of Information Act requests, the Dayton Daily News ultimately sued the Peace Corps in federal court to free public records that document assaults against volunteers. The agency had never before released its database on assaults, preventing closer scrutiny into the incidents and allowing the agency to hide the real dangers its volunteers often face.
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The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan independent Washington, D.C.-based organization that does investigative reporting and research on significant public issues. Since 1990, the Center has released more than 400 investigative reports and 17 books. It has received the prestigious George Polk Award and more than 22 other national journalism awards and 16 finalist nominations from national organizations, including PEN USA and Investigative Reporters and Editors. In April 2006, the Society of Professional Journalists recognized the Center with a national award for excellence in online public service journalism for the fifth consecutive year. In October 2006, the Center was honored with the Online News Association’s coveted General Excellence Award. In March 2007, the Center was given a special citation for the body of its investigative work from the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.


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