The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, targeted in a deadly attack earlier this year by Islamist gunmen, was being honored on Tuesday at a New York gala under heavy security, organizers said.
The award from the PEN American Center comes two days after two gunmen opened fire at a Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, depictions that Muslims consider offensive.
Drawings of the founder of Islam were also at the heart of the January attack on Charlie Hebdo's Paris offices that killed 12 people. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen claimed responsibility, saying the weekly had insulted the prophet with its cartoons.