Oops, cut off Aaron's last reply to the above:

'Yes an award that comes w/ money. The false claim that this is "pro-Assad" money comes from a sleazy attack published in ironically, a NATO state-funded web site (including a CIA cutout, the NED) Bellingcat. I just recently caught them in another hoax:
thegrayzone.com
Draft debacle: Bellingcat smears OPCW whistleblower, journalists with false letter, farcical claims...
Bellingcat claimed to have uncovered a letter that disproves OPCW inspectors and journalists who challenged the censorship of a Syria chemical weapons probe. But in one of many falsehoods, Bellingc...