Nasry Ahmed Esmat, Egypt NASRY AHMED ESMAT, 29, is a reporter and copy editor at Al-Ahram newspaper in Cairo covering judicial events as well as an interactivity editor and trainer for Filbalad.com. On sabbatical this year from Al-Ahram, Egypt’s most widely circulated daily, he is focused on digital media and the drastic change from print to online and interactivity with audience. For Filbalad.com, an independent news portal with different news websites and a news provider for mobile phones, Esmat produces interactive content and trains journalists on interactivity and basic skills. He also moderates the training blog for filbalad.com editors at www.sarcomlab.blogspot.com Esmat is a trainer and lecturer at the Ain Shams University where he teaches journalism and leads newsroom simulations. He is also a member of the training and professional development committee in the Journalists Syndicate and a member of the Future Generation Foundation. In 2008 Esmat attended the first Euro Mediterranean Academy for Young Journalists (EMAJ), a 10-day training course on journalism which teams up journalists from many different countries to produce pieces of journalism suitable for print, radio, TV and online media. Esmat was an EMAJ trainer in 2009. In 2002 he was awarded the Mostapha Amin Prize for young journalists for a printed feature entitled "The Sin of Silence," which discussed the future of Egyptian women subjected to rape and violence. Esmat received a B.A. in journalism in 2002 from Ain Shams University. He has participated in a variety of training including multimedia journalism, news strategies to attract readers, reporting diversity, investigative journalism, newspaper layout and objectivity in international news. He has also participated in several cultural exchange programs in Jordan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States. Most recently in 2008, he attended the Young Arab Leaders Visitors Program in Sweden which taught him and 19 others how to use social media tools in development and how to manage people and a team. His fellowship interests are related to the future of news—how American print news organizations are producing their news on the internet and what tools they might be using—including Facebook and Twitter—to attract users; how they might prepare their content for delivery by mobile phones; and how news organization can make a profit. He is the third Daniel Pearl Fellow from Egypt. Assignment: ProPublica and Los Angeles Times 2010 Daniel Pearl Fellow
	Washington Gikunju, Kenya Since late 2008, WASHINGTON GIKUNJU, 28, has been a business writer with the Business Daily in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes on economy, finance, money and markets for this four-year-old publication in the Nation Media Group stable, the largest media company in East Africa. He also occasionally acts as news editor. He previously was a business writer for The Standard (2007-08) and worked briefly as an equity research analyst at CFC Financial Services. In 2008, the staff of the Business Daily, including Gikunju, won the Diageo Africa Business Reporting Award’s “Media of the Year 2008.” These awards recognize and encourage high quality business news reporting in Africa. Since mid-2009, he has been a peer educator for the nascent Nation Media Group AIDS Awareness Team which educates and disseminates HIV/AIDS information to Nation staff with the ultimate goal of reaching the outside community. The University of Nairobi granted Gikunju a Bachelor of Commerce in finance in 2006. He is also a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (part 2) certificate holder from Strathmore University. His first fellowship goal is to experience the changing media landscape in the U.S. and return to Kenya better equipped with ideas to help professional media there. His second goal is to learn more about business news coverage in the United States. Assignment: University of Missouri School of Journalism and Columbia Missourian
	Lei Lei, China Since 2003, LEI LEI, 29, has been a sports reporter and editor for China Daily, the government owned English-language newspaper with the widest circulation in China. Her responsibilities include covering sports events, writing domestic and international sports stories and features, editing and laying out the sports pages. She has covered many international events such as the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, 2004 and 2005 Formula One Shanghai Grand Prix, 2004 AFC Asian Cup and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Lei has twice won the Best Employee of China Daily, in 2007 and 2008, and in 2008 won Best Employee of China Daily in Olympic Coverage. This winter, she covered the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. She has also occasionally covered politics. From the China Daily newsroom staff of 150, Lei was one of five accredited China Daily journalists covering the Beijing Olympics from the 2007 preparations through the completion of the Games. As the group leader of the Olympic News Center, Lei covered 90 percent of Beijing Olympic stories for China Daily including the preparations of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, launching ceremonies for the mascots, venue construction, cultural activities surrounding the Games, interviewing IOC senior officials, lighting of the torch in Athens and following the torch relay. She was in charge of producing the weekly Olympian insert leading up to the Games, and during the Games she helped produce the Olympic Daily, which became the official daily newspaper of the Beijing Games. Lei received her B.A. in English language and literature from Xi’an International Studies University in 2003. Her fellowship goals are to learn how U.S. media groups operate and to expand her coverage beyond sports. Assignment: Chicago Tribune
	Aoun Sahi, Pakistan Since 2003, AOUN SAHI, 31, has been a reporter for The News on Sunday, the weekend magazine of The News International. He is the fifth Daniel Pearl Fellow in as many years from this publication. Sahi, based at the headquarters in Lahore, covers crime, environment, militancy, politics, security, and social issues. Since 2006, he has been contributing to a variety of other news outlets including Newsline, Pakistan’s top monthly English language magazine, Agence France Presse, Inter Press Service and Western newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Sunday Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Sahi holds a B.A. in journalism (2001) and a M.A. in mass communication (2003) from the University of the Punjab in Lahore. For his work, in 2007, Sahi was awarded the best young reporter and feature writer by the Department of Mass Communication at the University. At his alma mater, Sahi works as a visiting lecturer teaching M.A. students in development journalism. In February, 2010, Sahi attended the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) media workshop in Bali, Indonesia as part of the 11th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC/GMEF). In 2006 Sahi was one of ten journalists from Asia selected by the Asian Development Bank and World Water Council to attend the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City. Sahi is a member of the Punjab Union of Journalists and Lahore Press Club. His Fellowship goals are to learn how to serve people through journalism and to become more accurate and articulate in his reporting. He will be based with the Atlanta bureau of The Wall Street Journal, where Daniel Pearl once worked. Assignment: The Wall Street Journal (Atlanta bureau) 2010 Daniel Pearl Fellow
	Roman Shleynov, Russia In 1999, ROMAN SHLEYNOV, 35, began working as a staff correspondent for Novaya Gazeta. He is now the investigations editor as well as a reporter and an editorial board member. During his time at Novaya Gazeta, he has also worked as information section reporter, deputy head of information section, investigative reporter and deputy investigations editor. Shleynov focuses almost exclusively on exposing the corrupt bonds between business and politics (public officials) Since 2008, Shleynov has worked with The Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on the ongoing transnational project, "Tobacco Underground: The Booming Global Trade in Smuggled Cigarettes". In 2008, Shleynov and a team of two other journalists went to Kaliningrad to expose Western Europe's largest source of smuggled cigarettes. Shleynov also takes part in the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a venture of five news organizations and investigative reporters' centers in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Started by 2001 Alfred Friendly Press Fellow Paul Radu of the Romanian Center of Investigative Journalism, its goal is to show how organized crime affects the lives of citizens of the region. For OCCRP, Shleynov coordinated the work of seven journalists in as many countries on a project called "Document Dilemma" which showed how people can illegally obtain identity documents. For his work Shleynov received one of two 2008 Transparency International Integrity Awards . He also received the Russian Union of Journalists awards in 2000 and 2003 as well as the Moscow Mayor’s Prize for Journalism in 2002. Shleynov received a diploma as a teacher of biology from Moscow State Teachers' Training University in 1997 and a diploma as a journalist in 1999 from High School of Journalism of International University in Moscow. Shleynov's goals for his fellowship are to understand what information is available through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and Electronic FOIA and to gain additional skills in managing cross-border investigations. Assignment: The Center for Public Integrity 2010 Paul Klebnikov Prize for Excellence in Journalism Fellow Top of Page