Girardet, Sweeney win awards from Sigma Delta Chi, ASNE

Edward Girardet, Paris-based special correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, has won the "foreign correspondence distinguished service" award from Sigma Delta Chi for his coverage of Afghanistan.

Girardet was honored by SDX, the professional journalistic society, for undertaking at great personal risk two assignments into Soviet-held Afghanistan. As a result of one of these trips Girardet broke the news of the massacre at Kerala (or Kyralla) in which 1,170 unarmed men were killed. His report was subsequently confirmed by the CIA and prompted calls for a United Nations inquiry.

Monitor Washington correspondent Louise Sweeney was cited as a finalist for "excellence in writing" by the Americant Society of Newspaper Editors. Sweeney was honored for profiles on Jimmy Stewart, John Gardner, and Ralph Nader.