Friday, we went to the Alfred Friendly Press Partners Annual Event at the National Press Club. We snapped Alfred Friendly fellowship recipient Binita Dahal with designer Joyce Smith and Robin Heller International’s Robin Heller.

The event served as AFPP’s annual graduation program and dinner for its fellows from emerging democracies around the world. The organization is named after Alfred Friendly, whose name was synonymous with groundbreaking journalism when he reported for The Washington Post. Here, Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post contributing editor Jim Hoagland with University of Missouri ‎Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Journalism Barbara Cochran.

AFPP bonds with journalists and news organizations from countries that want better access to information by providing hands-on training in U.S. and international newsrooms and within the Missouri School of Journalism. This year’s fellows hail from Malaysia, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Kenya, Ukraine and Cuba and have spent six months gaining hands-on experience and leadership skills they will need to become more effective journalists in their home newsrooms. Here, Alfred Friendly Press Partners President Randy Smith, Chairman Jonathan Friendly and program sponsors Debbie Driesman and Frank Islam.

Yevgenia M. Albats, a previous Friendly fellow, received the Susan Talalay Award for Outstanding Journalism for her work and bravery in exposing corruption in Russia.

Jackie Combs Nelson received the Ellen Soeteber Award for mentorship. Combs Nelson is a former assistant editor at the Chicago Tribune and has been traveling the world to reunite and connect with past AFPP fellows. Here, author and AFPP steering committee member Lisa Frank with MaSa Partners co-founders Max Duckworth and Sarah Godlewski.

The event featured a discussion with Washington Post Associate Editor and senior national security correspondent Karen DeYoung. Her reporting this year has broken major developments involving North Korea, Russia and ISIS. Previously, DeYoung won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the war on terrorism. She was interviewed by Tim Carrington, a former international journalist with The Wall Street Journal and a Friendly foundation board member.