Diaspora Jews and how they connect with Israel was the focus of a major journalism award and two citations this week by the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem.

The organization announced Wednesday that Channel 2 reporter Lee Abramowitz had won its 2012 Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage.

Abramowitz received the award for her report “American Jewry makes living kidney donations to Israeli patients,” broadcast in July 2011. The piece focused on Orthodox Jewish Americans donating kidneys to Israelis, their motivations and the support they received through the process.

Receiving Foreign Correspondent Citations were Diaa Hadid of the Associated Press, and Jana Beris (Jerozolimski), editor of the Uruguayan Jewish weekly Semanario Hebreo.

Hadid won her citation for a June 2011 article on the Jewish community and Dar al-Bishi synagogue in Tripoli, Libya, during the revolution sparked by last year's Arab Spring.

Beris received her citation for a March 2011 interview with Natan Sharansky.

Established in 1992, the B'nai B'rith World Center Award for Journalism recognizes reporting excellence on contemporary Diaspora Jewish communities and Israel-Diaspora relations in the Israeli media.