Boehringer Ingelheim’s Eloquium Award winners announced

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced three journalists are the recipients of the Eloquium Award.

The prize is given for excellence in reporting on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), following 40 submissions from 12 countries.

Awards were split into three categories – consumer print/online, medical print/online and broadcast.

Professor Klaus Rabe, chair of the judging panel and chairman of pulmonology at Leiden University Medical Centre in Holland, said: “In my clinical practice, I see so many people who would have sought earlier diagnosis and treatment if they had been aware they could have controlled their condition at an earlier stage.”

Winners of the titles were Cinthya Leite from Brazil, for her article Illness that takes the breath away, with Claudia Pinto’s special about the disease winning the medical print/online award and Programme on COPD on World Non Smoking Day winning the broadcast prize for Janeth Hinostroza from Ecuador.

Mr Rabe went on to praise the initiative, adding it “rewards those who are instrumental” in raising awareness about the disease.

Founded in Ingelheim in 1885, the company had sales of 10.6 billion euros (8.94 billion pounds) in 2006.

The organisation has 38,400 employees, of which 900 are in the UK.