Watch it live: 2013 Courage in Journalism Awards salute 4 brave women

Each year, four women in journalism are saluted for their guts and their tenacity by an organization created to spotlight such singular courage.

The International Women’s Media Foundation is holding a 2013 Courage in Journalism Awards ceremony tonight at 8:30 PDT at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The event will be streamed live here. Actress Olivia Wilde and Glamour magazine Editor Cindi Leive will co-host, with award presenters including Maria Shriver and Marcia Gay Harden.

The women being honored are Afghan journalist Najiba Ayubi, with the Killid Group; Nour Kelze, a photojournalist for Reuters in Syria; Bopha Phorn, a reporter for the Cambodia Daily; and Edna Machirori, a longtime journalist in Zimbabwe.

IWMF outlined some of the wrenching situations these women have dealt with as part of their work. While investigating a story in Cambodia, Phorn was fired on by gunmen with AK-47s and forced to flee through the jungle; a colleague died.

In Afghanistan, Ayubi has faced death threats, gunmen at her front door and charges of false reporting by the government. She told broadcaster Deutsche Welle that she and female colleagues “continuously receive direct and indirect threats, and we have to deal with many problems at the workplace.”

Former schoolteacher Kelze in Syria says she’s had “many near-death experiences,” including being fired on from small aircraft. She told NPR: “The camera is as equal as a weapon. And you need to document every single thing that’s happening.”

During her career, Machirori ferreted out corruption in Zimbabwe’s government and struggled in a workplace where derision of women was commonplace. Machirori, described by the foundation as the first black female editor of a newspaper in Zimbabwe, is this year’s recipient of the IWMF lifetime achievement award.

Watch IMWF honor these women for their remarkable achievements.

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