Ladies and Gentleman:

I am particularly delighted to receive this prestigious journalism award tonight.  However, this is an unusual occasion for me.  Although I have been in the journalism business for more than 25 years, I am not used to awards.  Instead of receiving honors, I am more used to defending myself in court. Instead of wonderful speeches about my work as I have heard tonight, I am more used to threats, even death threats.  Instead of seeing my name on the list of the award winners, I am used to seeing it in secret police files classified as the 'enemy of the state.’  This is why tonight’s event is such an uncommon and unusual one for me.

Drago Hedl, of the Feral Times in Croatia, accepted the Knight International Journalism Award on November 15 in Washington, D.C.

We all make choices in life, an in our professional work. You can choose an even path without any ascents or risky turns. But you can also decide to follow a road full of dangers and traps.  During my career as a journalist, I worked on topics that could be encountered only on this latter road.  This was my choice: I have no right to complain about what I experienced on my way.

Writing about war crimes is not something that makes a journalist popular. People only unwillingly confront the dark side of the war, and often dismiss those who do as traitors. Still, I hope that the articles I've written have helped to change such an attitude.  We must not feel indifferent if murderers walk among us without being held responsible for what they have done.  A crime must be identified with a name of the one who committed it, so it does not get attributed to an entire nation.

I am glad that my country, Croatia, has finally started to become aware of such issues.  Journalism is now seeing better days and there are rapid advances in freedom of the press.  Many of my colleagues help this come about, even if they faced great problems doing so. This award, in my view, honors them as well.

My family: my wife Ivana, who is also a journalist, and my son Matija, a biochemist - to whom I sometimes jokingly say that I am glad he did not choose journalism as his occupation - stood behind me during difficult times.  I am also grateful to my mother who anxiously followed everything that was going on.  Finally, I would like to acknowledge my colleagues from
'Feral Tribune', who had the courage to publish my articles and encourage me in my investigations.  I thank them all. If not for them, I would not be receiving this award today.

If there is anything I've learned about journalism in these 25 years, it must be the fact that you have to face yourself in the mirror every morning. It is a great pleasure if, looking at yourself, you do not feel ashamed about anything you've written.  So far this has been the only award for my work.

Thank you for the recognition. This award confirms that my belief was right.