Top journalist awarded for achievement

Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the Independent newspaper, will receive the second Alumni Award for Achievement on Friday 13 July, during the Lonsdale College Degree Ceremony. The former Lonsdale College student, graduated in 1968 with a degree in English and Classics. He has lived in Beirut for 23 years and, current affairs permitting, will return to Lancaster to meet former lecturers and students working on the University newspaper and radio station. Holder of 21 British and foreign press awards, he wrote two books on modern Irish history, and the best-selling "Pity the Nation" a history of the 1975-1990 Lebanon war (published by OUP).

He says: "I am honoured to receive the award and will try my best to come to the graduation ceremony. Of course if a story breaks, my editor would not be too pleased if I told him I was otherwise engaged."

This annual high profile award is presented to a member of the Alumni Association who is considered to have made an outstanding contribution to society or attained a significant level of personal or professional achievement.