RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan
© RIA NovostiRT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan

"The Russian RT news channel has been honored with a prestigious gold medal award at the New York Festivals, besting the US-based CNN news channel, and claiming an additional two bronze medals," RT's press service told RIA Novosti.

RT News Channel, previously known as Russia Today, is a Russian international information TV company.

RT is the first Russian channel presenting round-the-clock news in English, Arabic and Spanish.

The RT editor-in-chief is Margarita Simonyan and in late 2005 the network began English-language news broadcasts from Moscow.

RT has 22 bureaus in 19 countries, with offices in Washington, New York, London, Berlin, Cairo and Baghdad, employing over 1,000 media professionals around the globe.

The network has a global reach of over 644 million people in more than 100 countries.

In 2010, the network became the first ever Russian TV channel to be nominated in the Emmy International Television Awards.

In 2012, the news channel received a second Emmy nomination for covering the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Last year, the channel took the top prize for best round-the-clock news channel at Europe's most prestigious gathering of TV officials, the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

And last year, the news channel also won the top prize at the New York Festivals.