Namo Abdullah Azeez

The White House Correspondents’ Association℠ awarded a $5,000 tuition grant in 2011-2012 to Namo Abdullah Azeez of New York.

Namo Abdullah Azeez (Namo Abdulla) is an Iraqi journalist and has reported for top Iraqi and international media outlets. As a freelance correspondent, he has written for The New York Times, Reuters, the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and IRIN, UN’s humanitarian news agency. He was most recently editor-in-chief of the English version of Rudaw, a leading newspaper in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rudaw publishes in three languages and has a Europe edition for the expatriate Kurdish community. Although covering Iraq is difficult for journalists, Abdulla has reported in some of the country’s most volatile places, such as Baghdad, Kirkuk and Diyala. He has chosen Columbia Journalism School because he believes it will provide him with the best opportunity to reachhis full potential and enable him to take part in the burgeoning media movement in Iraq.