MANILA, 31 July 2003 — A Philippine journalist and six other Asians were named yesterday as winners of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awards, the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Sheila Coronel, who heads the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, won for her groundbreaking “collaborative effort to develop investigative journalism as a critical component of democratic discourse in the Philippines,” award organizers said.

James Michael Lyngdogh, India’s chief elections commissioner is to receive the award for government service while compatriot Shantha Sinha is being cited for community leadership for her work in eradicating child labor.

Lyngdogh was named among “25 Stars of Asia” by Business Week magazine in June, and played a crucial role in ensuring fair elections last year in several Indian States.

Gao Yoji, an AIDS activist in China, won for public service while Aniceto Guterres Lopes of East Timor won for emergent leadership.

Soil agriculturist and environmentalist Seiei Toyama and medical doctor Tetsu Nakamura of Japan both won for peace and international understanding.

Toyama received the award for his 20-year campaign to “green the deserts of China in a spirit of solidarity and peace” and Nakamura for his “compassionate commitment to ease the pains of war” as a leading volunteer in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The awards will be presented on Aug. 31.

Founded in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, named after the Philippines’ well-loved third president, is Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

It is given yearly to individuals and organizations who manifest a “sense of selfless service” to their craft.