This category was launched in memory of the late Sunday Times foreign correspondent Marie Colvin who was killed reporting on the plight of people in the besieged Syrian city of Homs in 2012. It is free to enter and anyone can make a nomination. The judges are looking for an outstanding, up and coming journalist of Marie’s calibre. Please submit a supporting statement and up to five examples of work which can be either from the last year or over a longer time period.
The Marie Colvin Award
Rukhshana Media
The judges said: “Marie would have been thrilled by Rukhshana – by the novelty of women banding together to provide different perspectives of male-dominated Afghanistan in the face of death threats and intimidation; by their tremendous courage in continuing to report as the Taliban took over despite the obvious risks highlighted by the 22-year-old journalist on the run; and by the new ground they’ve broken in the Women Report Afghanistan series, touching on the uncertainties facing divorcees, single mothers and female police officers.”
Zahra Joya, founder of Rukhshana Media, collects the Marie Colvin Award at the British Journalism Awards 2021
Sophia Yan
The Telegraph
The judges said: “She has a tenacity and seriousness of purpose that Marie Colvin would have admired. Xi Jinping’s China is one of the most important and most difficult countries in the world to cover, which is one reason we so admired her reporting. Like Marie, Sophia is determined to get to the truth, exposing cruelty, injustice and the abuse of human rights despite all attempts to stop her.”
Josie Ensor
The Telegraph
• Shamima Begum was cruel enforcer in Isil’s morality police, say Syrian witnesses
Judges said: “Ensor’s reporting from north-east Syria makes readers identify with people they might otherwise fear – teenagers who ended up with ISIS. She is sympathetic but clear-eyed, and went to great lengths to verify stories through contacts around the world.”
