PROVO — Pulitzer Prize winner John Hughes, a former editor and chief operating officer of the Deseret News, will receive the National Council for International Visitors' Citizen Diplomat Media Award later this year.
Hughes, who writes a syndicated column on international issues for the Christian Science Monitor and teaches journalism at Brigham Young University, was recognized for his leadership in, and support of, citizen diplomacy — the concept that the individual citizen has the right, even the responsibility, to help shape U.S. foreign relations "one handshake at a time," an NCIV press release said.
NCIV president Sherry Mueller said Hughes has worked to build constructive ties between the United States and people around the globe.
Hughes won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1967 while writing for the Christian Science Monitor. Hughes was honored for his coverage of Indonesia's political coup and the government-endorsed killing of over 200,000 people in Indonesia.
A former editor of the Monitor, Hughes has also served an assistant secretary of state, director of Voice of America, assistant secretary-general and director of communications at the United Nations and a consultant. As a Utahn, Hughes has been supportive of the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, an NCIV member organization, officials said in a prepared statement.
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