Last week we were honored to be able to bake hundreds – make that thousands – of cookies for the International Women’s Media Foundation‘s 2011 Courage in Journalism Awards. We worked with Bank of America, one of the sponsors of the event, to design individual gift boxes for each guest of the NYC dinner and luncheon honoring women journalists who risk their lives reporting on violence in their countries.

In between baking batch after batch of gingersnaps, oatmeal raisin cookies, and snickerdoodles, we read up on the event and its inspiring honorees:

• Adele Navarro Bello, who writes about violence in Mexico despite threats from drug cartels
• Parisa Hafezi, who has endured beatings, interrogations and raids on her office and home for critical reporting in Tehran
• Chiranuch Premchaiporn, who faces the threat of a 20-year prison sentence for failing to delete critical remarks about the Thai monarchy on her website
• Kate Adie, honored with a lifetime achievement award, who has been reporting from warzones for the past 40 years