London, Asharq Alawsat—Elahe Boghrat, one of Iran’s leading female journalists, has been nominated for the 2015 Courage in Journalism Award.

The annual award has been granted by the International Women’s media Foundation since 1990 and is designed to encourage female journalists across the globe. Among previous award winners are leading television journalists Barbara Walters and Christiane Amanpour.

Boghrat, 57, has more than a quarter of a century of journalism behind her as both a columnist and editor. She is currently editor of the online version of the Iranian newspaper Kayhan and her weekly column appears in several news and views publications across the web.

Although she predominantly writes about politics, Boghrat has consistently paid special attention to the struggle of Iranian women for greater freedoms and equal rights. Some of her columns on these issues have been widely distributed inside Iran in “samizadt” form.

As a political analyst and columnist, Boghrat belongs to the first generation of Iranian female journalists who learned the trade at all levels, including beat reporting and coverage of major events. Prior to this female journalists in Iran had been confined to certain aspects of the trade, such as writing articles about or acting as publishers or editors of magazines devoted to women and family-related issues.