Former Otago Daily Times columnist Melanie Bunce has been selected for the prestigious British Round Table Commonwealth Awards for Young Scholars.
Ms Bunce (26) is studying for a doctorate at the University of Oxford on the production of international news reports on conflict in Africa.
The 1000 award allows her to travel for three weeks to Nairobi, Kenya, the base for reporters working on North and East African issues.
She will conduct interviews with journalists, and the sources they use, including academics, politicians and aid workers, and consider the ways the news media affects understanding of other countries.
Ms Bunce, a former Logan Park High School pupil, wrote a weekly opinion page column called "What's With That" in the ODT while a student at the University of Otago.
Six students from British universities were chosen for the awards - two Britons, two Canadians, a South African and Ms Bunce.
The Round Table is described as Britain's oldest international affairs journal.
Ms Bunce came to Oxford on a Commonwealth Scholarship and completed a masters degree in international development.
Her doctorate scholarship is funded through her Oxford college and through a fellowship from the New Zealand-based International Federation of Graduate Women.
