The awards, issued by the International Women's Media Foundation, went to Claudia Duque, Alma Guillermoprieto, Vicky Ntetema and Tsering Woeser.
Woeser, a Tibetan blogger, was unable to attend the ceremony as the Chinese government has confiscated her passport. She used her blog to record anti-government protests in Tibet in 2008 and, from her base in Beijing, the ensuing crackdown by the Chinese government.
Duque, who has been kidnapped for her work and threatened by Columbia's secret police, was rewarded for her investigations into the murder of fellow journalist Jaime Garzon in 1999. Last month Duque was refused entry to the UK to deliver a speech to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Freelancer Ntetama, who has worked for the BBC, was recognised for her reports on the killings of albinos by witchdoctors in Tanzania in the face of death threats from the group.
IWMF gave a lifetime achievement award to Guillermoprieto for her work, which included an investigation in 1982 of the murders of more than 800 people in El Salvador by US soldiers.
More details of the award winners' careers are available on the IWMF website.
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