Martin Seemungal, Middle East Bureau Chief, CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH LISA LAFLAMME

Martin Seemungal is Middle East correspondent for CTV. His return to CTV in 2011 is a homecoming for Seemungal who was a CTV Ottawa reporter early in his career, from 1984 to 1988.

Seemungal's stories have taken him from the violent townships of apartheid South Africa to wars in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Afghanistan and Angola, to the genocide in Rwanda. Seemungal has a vast knowledge of developing world issues, with a focus on Africa, where he lived and worked as a foreign correspondent for more than 20 years. In 2004, Seemungal's portrayal of the devastation in Sudan's Darfur region for ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS earned him a second Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing News Coverage. In 2002, Seemungal won his first Emmy for Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story while reporting on the Congo for ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE WITH TED KOPPEL.

Traveling the world as a foreign correspondent for CBC, ABC, CBS and PBS, Seemungal reported on diverse stories that include the Ethiopian famine of 1984 to the Tsunami in Asia; from man-made catastrophes like the crisis in Eastern Congo to the Christmas earthquake that leveled Iran; the death of Pope John Paul II, Saddam Hussein's capture, and the spectacular volcano eruption in Congo.

Born and raised in Belleville, Ontario, Seemungal earned a diploma in Television Broadcasting from Loyalist College in 1980.

Carreer Highlights:

• 2009 – Nominated for an Emmy Award for coverage on 21st Century Africa for PBS / Worldfocus
• 2004 – Won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing News Coverage of a News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast, ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS. "Hidden War: Genocide in Darfur."
• 2003 – Won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form. ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE WITH TED KOPPEL. "Heart of Darkness."
• 2002 – Won the Peabody Award: ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE WITH TED KOPPEL. "Heart of Darkness."
• 2002 – Nominated for an Emmy Award for his coverage of the vocano eruption in the Congo
• 2002 – Overseas Press Club for America Award: Carl Speilvogel Award. ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE WITH TED KOPPEL. "Heart of Darkness."
• 1997 – Nominated for a Gemini Award for CBC coverage of Rwanda Genocide
• 1995 – Nymphe D'or (Gold Nymphe) Monte Carlo Television Festival:  Best News Report. CBC/The National, "Riots in Johannesburg." Report from South Africa was main feature of the coverage.
• 1985 – RTNDA (Canada) Dave Rogers Award for Best Documentary. CJOH TV: "Ethiopia: The Canadian Mission."