The 2011 Women Of Concern New York

The 2011 Women of Concern Awards were held in New York City last Tuesday at the Jumeirah Essex House.

This year's recipient of the Women of Concern Humanitarian Award was Hoda Kotb, Co-Host of the Fourth Hour of NBC's Today Show, and correspondent of Dateline NBC.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Amy Ellis Nutt received the Women of Concern Leadership Award. Ms. Nutt is an enterprise writer at Newark's Star Ledger.

Both women were honored for their leadership, contributions to public service, and efforts to empower women and raise awareness of issues relating to the status of women globally.

The Women of Concern Awards event also raises vital funds to support Concern's emergency and long-term development work in 25 of the world's poorest countries.

Jenny Hobbs, Concern's Education Coordinator for programs in Liberia, was guest speaker.

Ms. Hobbs shared stories from her work in the field, helping communities improve access to education for the most vulnerable, particularly girls, and prioritizing training teachers and recruiting female instructors in Liberia.

In a country still recovering from a 14-year civil war, gender-based violence is commonplace, even in schools.

Concern is working to educate communities about the value of educating girls and the importance of providing "safe schools" in which girls can learn and thrive without threat of sexual intimidation or assault.

Hoda Kotb was introduced by her Today show co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, who praised Ms. Kotb's remarkable compassion and respect for the dignity of people, her refusal to do stories that in any way demean others.

Referring to her own choice - albeit a reluctant one, at first - to speak freely about her own battle with breast cancer in order to help others, Kotb urged her audience to invest time and money "only in what is important, because time is precious."

The veteran reporter told the audience: "They way you live your days is the way you live your life. I just want to say to Concern, I love the way you spend your days and I love what you do."

Honoree Amy Ellis Nutt was introduced by Rosemary Parillo, Editor-in-Chief at Inside Jersey Magazine.

Ms. Nutt spoke movingly about the importance of international reporting - and spoke of how humanitarian agencies such as Concern often are the first to bear witness and tell the stories of crises such as the famine in Biafra.

Aid agencies often fill in the gaps left by the closure of foreign news bureaus and ensure that US audiences are kept informed about crucial issues in the developing world.

Ellis Nutt spoke of her recent visit to Haiti with Concern and the remarkable "industry, creativity and humanity of both Concern staff and the Haitian people" in their battle to rebuild the country in the wake of the devastating January 2010 earthquake. She cited the Haitian proverb: "Many hands make the load lighter."

NBC's News 4 Reporter, Lynda Baquero, was the Master of Ceremonies for the event.