The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) presented Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) with three 2015 Communicator Awards for demonstrating "creative excellence" among communications professionals.
Brian Whitmore, RFE/RL's Europe desk editor, received an Award of Excellence for "The Power Vertical," a must-see program comprising a daily vlog and weekly podcast that is a one-stop shop of lively opinion and up-to-the-minute analysis on Russia.
Andrei Zakirzyanov of RFE/RL's "Current Time," and Sergei Yolkin, a Moscow-based cartoonist for the Russian service, received an Award of Distinction for “And Now We Win,” a motion cartoon chronicling Russian President Vladimir Putin's launch of "Novorossiya," his expansionist campaign for Russia.
Mumin Shakirov, also with the Russian service, won an Award of Distinction for a video examining the lives and choices made by Ukrainians displaced by the conflict in the country's eastern regions.
Announcing the awards on April 26, AIVA Executive Editor Linda Day said entrants "continue to amaze by reinventing the ways we communicate and market in an ever-changing industry."
The AIVA, which oversees the awards, now in their 21st year, is made up of over 600 leading professionals in the visual arts who are "dedicated to...the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media."