The unnamed people who captured on video the shooting death of an Iranian protester have won a prestigious journalism prize, the first time it has been awarded anonymously.
Music student Neda Agha-Soltan was gunned down during protests over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.
Footage of her death was seen by millions of people and became "an iconic image of the Iranian resistance", the curator of the George Polk Awards said.
The film made Neda's name a rallying cry for the opposition and sparked international outrage at the harsh response of security forces.
"This award celebrates the fact that, in today's world, a brave bystander with a cell (mobile) phone camera can use video-sharing and social networking sites to deliver news," said award curator John Darnton.
The Polk Awards, presented by Long Island University, are considered among the top prizes in US journalism.
Top journalism prize
They were created in 1949 in honour of CBS reporter George W Polk, who was killed while
covering the Greek civil war.
They will be bestowed at a ceremony in Manhattan in April.
Other winners of the 2009 awards, announced on Tuesday in New York included:
- David Rohde, a New York Times correspondent recognised for a five-part series detailing his kidnapping and imprisonment by the Taliban.
- David Grann, whose New Yorker magazine piece throwing into doubt the guilt of an executed convict sparked a national outcry.
- Steve Kroft and Leslie Cockburn, of CBS News' 60 Minutes, for The Price of Oil, in which they examined how oil speculation was boosting the price of oil
- Charlie Reed, Kevin Baron and Leo Shane, of Stars and Stripes, who reported on a secret Pentagon program meant to steer journalists toward positive coverage of the Afghanistan war. The Pentagon cancelled the program less than a week after the report.
