MUMBAI: The BBC has announced that its journalist Mark Doyle has won first prize in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA)/UN Foundation Awards.

He won in the reporting on Humanitarian and Developmental affairs category for his coverage of post-war Liberia under a UN peacekeeping mission, produced by Dan McMillan.

Mark and Dan made a series of radio packages in Liberia which were commissioned by Radio 4's PM programme and BBC World Service. The award was given at the UNCA's ninth Annual Media Awards.     

Mark and Dan spent much of their time deep in the Eastern jungle of Liberia, monitoring the deployment of UN soldiers from Ethiopia and speaking to child soldiers. One of their packages was on a lighter note, however, covering a return visit by former Fifa Player of the Year and former AC Milan striker, Liberian George Weah.

Doyle said, "At least half of this award should go to BBC producer Dan McMillan. He and I worked together shaping the packages and battling the technical difficulties of filing them from some rather tricky locations. Dan and I also want to pay tribute to the extraordinarily resilient people of Liberia.

"Despite the worst efforts of their wartime leaders, the people we met on our trip - church leaders, mothers, farmers - have mostly emerged from the war as dynamic, friendly and optimistic. We can only hope that it is people like these, not more warlords, who rule the Liberia of the future."