MUMBAI: BBC World news presenter Mishal Husain has been named the Young Achiever of the Year at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in London.The annual ceremony, now in its fifth year, celebrates the professional and personal accomplishments of successful and inspirational Asian women in Britain. The Young Achiever of the Year award recognises "any woman under 30 who has done something incredible or inspirational, or is simply the best at what she does.

Mishal has been a key presenter on BBC World since October 2000. She is a highly talented broadcaster and one of the most familiar faces in television news around the globe. Most recently, she has been seen hosting bulletins each weekday evening (GMT) on the BBCs commercially funded 24-hour international news and information television channel, which is available in 260 million homes globally. She has also recently begun co-presenting editions of Breakfast on BBC ONE in the UK.

Mishal is particularly well known as a presenter in the fiercely competitive television market in the United States and has played an integral role in establishing BBC World as an authoritative source of television news there. In 2002 and 2003, she was based within the BBCs news bureau in Washington DC, and has returned to the US capital this year, closely monitoring and covering the 2004 Presidential elections.

In the past year, Husain has appeared on the cover of the Financial Times Magazine in the UK, and among her other significant press clippings has been an interview with Vanity Fair.

BBC World, head of news, Caroline Howie said, "Mishal is an incredibly able and versatile broadcaster. She combines great personal qualities of warmth and humanity with the highest professional standards, and thoroughly deserves to be recognised with this award."

Mishals family is originally from Pakistan but she was born in the UK in 1973 and grew up in the Middle East. Graduating in Law from Cambridge University in 1995, she completed a Masters in that subject at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Mishal was the launch presenter of BBC Worlds Asia Business Report in October 2000, when she was based in Singapore. She returned to London some months later to present the channels flagship financial programme, World Business Report.