CONGRATULATIONS & CELEBRATIONS

It's turning out to be the season of awards. And it's always great when friends make waves.

If you happen to watch a certain news channel closely at a certain hour in the morning, you already know her.

If you don't, great. Read on to discover some of the joys of being on and off camera. For a moment, go back to your early hour. Do you lumber out of bed at 5am or is it 6am or 7am? Pick your time. Whenever you do, don't you get that cuppa coffee or tea or lime with honey? Then don't you want your news fix? You possibly pick the paper or reach out for that remote.

There you are sitting in your little nook, perhaps hearing the birds chirp, the sun rise, the water flow, the day begin.

Here she is making it all seem like a breeze.

All poised, pretty and in control, her warm smile fills up your screen and you think it's easy.

She never gives you the slightest hint of the frosty studio where temperatures are constantly set at the jaw shuddering 16 degrees. When she's on set, the camera and her co-host are all she has for company. A live show gives her virtually no breaks. And that's after waking up at the crack of dawn to look perfect on set.

Yes, there's an army/a team/an orchestra of sorts behind ensuring everything that goes out is a picture of perfection..

On a normal day, it's all smooth sailing. Then the news breaks, the messages race full speed ahead. Lots of voices speak simultaneously in her ear piece but when you are watching it, you never get a whiff of it.

Even during the normal news days, she goes through several interviews, sussing out the temperament of the guest in the couple of minutes they get to chat. She can flit from English to Korean to English in a jiffy. And over the years that she's been on the show, we've heard so many South Korean voices we normally wouldn't have.

If you think doing an interview in English is a lot of work, try grappling with full length interviews in another language. Before the shoot, comes the research, then the cameras roll, then the language and when you head back, its the transcribing, the supering, the timing. You would think its not a presenters job, yet she has been more than willing to take it on.

Her commitment has spoken louder than any of the words I attempt to pen can. That's possibly why she got one of the first interviews with now UN Chief Ban Ki Moon. It didn't matter that she was on vacation, the story came first.

That's Suzanne Jung for you - commitment above everything else. That explains the formal recognition and a lot more that is bound to follow. She received one of South Korea's top civilian honours - the Prime Minister's Citation. Among other things, she has been credited with "helping promote the awareness and the image of South Korea."

Her interviews have always left me enlightened, wanting to know more about a country I dream of visiting someday.

Till that happens, I'll say congratulations.....
And if you haven't seen her already, you know who to tip your hat to next.

Here's looking at you Suzanne....