Lyubov Kovalevskaya, Ukraine

As reporter and editor of Tribuna Enerhetyky, the newspaper of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy plant in Ukraine, Lyubov Kovalevskaya obtained secret documents that enabled her to break the story about serious problems at the Chernobyl reactor one month before the nuclear accident. She spent the next three years collecting official documents on the facility and, risking her health, entered the forbidden radioactive zone more than 30 times to interview workers and cooperative officials. In addition to placing her health in jeopardy by entering Chernobyl, Kovalevskaya was persecuted by the KGB for criticizing a Soviet nuclear program.

When she accepted her award, Kovalevskaya explained that this "will nourish me physically, will provide a moral strength in the most difficult of circumstances, and will protect me from being discredited by government officials." Kovalevskaya is living in Kiev and working as a freelance writer. Her health still suffers from the effects of radiation exposure.