Fetisov Journalism Awards 2020
Official press release
10.02.2021
The FJA Steering Committee is honored to announce the names of the winners for the Fetisov Journalism Awards 2020 in 4 categories: Outstanding Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Contribution to Peace, Excellence in Environmental Journalism and Contribution to Civil Rights.
In 2020, over 280 entries from 77 countries were submitted for the worldwide competition, which is almost twice as much as received for the Fetisov Journalism Awards 2019. Besides individual stories, a greater number of top-quality collective and cross-border investigations were sumbitted this time compared to the last year's contest.
The winners were selected in a two-stage judging process. The competitive entries were assessed against a set of criteria such as accuracy of information, independence, impartiality and fairness, humanity, transparency, promotion of ethical principles, positive impact on the political, economic or social situation in a particular area, country or globally.
35 best articles were selected for the shortlist by FJA Expert Council that consists of 22 media experts from around the world. The shortlist includes 13 collaborative journalistic projects and 22 stories produced by individual journalists. Among them there are 6 cross-border investigations. Click here to see the interactive map of the shortlisted publications.
“First I want to salute the broad response that the convocation has had. All are jobs - in their categories - of a good level,” said Zuliana Lainez, Vice President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), General Secretary of the National Association of Journalists of Peru, FJA Expert Council Member. “There are various regions and visions represented. I have detected good investigative work in several of the articles that underline - from journalism - in the public agenda several fundamental issues for good coexistence, human rights and democracy in our countries.”
Nigel Mifsud, General Secretary of the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM), FJA Expert Council Member: “It was a very intriguing process, coming across a number of high-quality journalistic works in their own merit. I am thrilled to be part of this initiative.”
Julianne Schultz AM FAHA, Professor of Media and Culture, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Publisher of the Griffith Review, Chair of The Conversation Media Group, FJA Expert Council Member, said: “The world is a dark and terrible place at the moment, but these brave journalists are trying to make it better.”
The shortlisted entries were further evaluated in a second phase of judging by FJA Jury comprised of renowned international experts.
Barbara Trionfi, Executive Director of the International Press Institute (IPI), FJA Jury Member: “The quality of the articles this year is even greater than last year’s, in my opinion. It shows how important the Fetisov Award has become in such a short time. Congratulations! It was really difficult to rate the shortlisted submissions, because all of them addressed equally important topics, with high journalistic quality.”
Aidan White, Founder of the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), FJA Jury Member: “My first thought is what a dramatic increase in the quality of entries - almost all of them worthy of proper consideration.”
The 12 winning projects include 7 individual entries (from India, Turkey, Switzerland, Nigeria and US), 1 collaborative work from UK and 4 cross-border projects produced by the teams from Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
The results of Jury voting were verified by KPMG Limited and posted on FJA website on February 10, 2021.
The 12 winners will be awarded a considerable money prize (1st prize - CHF 100,000, 2nd prize - CHF 20,000, 3rd prize - CHF 10,000) at an annual awards ceremony that will take place in Zurich, Switzerland on April 22nd, 2021.
We thank all the journalists who submitted their works for the Fetisov Journalism Awards 2020. Congratulations to everyone on the shortlist and to all the winners!
We would like to thank the esteemed members of FJA Expert Council and Jury for their reliable support and for sharing their time and professional expertise.
The Fetisov Journalism Awards are aimed at promoting universal human values such as honesty, justice, courage and nobility through the example of outstanding journalists from around the world as their dedicated service and commitment contribute to changing the world for the better.
The winning projects in the four categories are as follows:
CONTRIBUTION TO CIVIL RIGHTS
1st Prize
Migrants from another world
by María Teresa Ronderos, José Guarnizo Álvarez, Alberto Pradilla Mar, Alejandra Elisa Saavedra López, Almudena Toral, Martina María de los Ángeles Mariscal Pioquintio, Christian Locka, Christian Trujillo Gallego, Deepak Adhikari, Eduardo Contreras, Maye Primera, Mónica Gonzáles Islas, Nathan Jaccard, Ronny Rojas Hidalgo, Suchit Chávez, Juan Arturo Gómez, Ushinor Majumdar, Manno Wangnao, Felipe Reyes, Diego Arce, Noelia Esquivel, Mary Trini Zea, Paul Mena, Mónica Almeida, Estevan Muniz, Ibis León, Iván Reyes, Giancarlo Fiorella, Laureano Barrera, Sebastián Ortega
(Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, US, India, Nepal, Cameroon, UK)
2nd Prize
How industry bodies are using the NCPCR and UNICEF to whitewash accusations of child labour
by Ankush Kumar, Bhavya Dore, Sadaf Aman, Petra Sorge (India/ Germany)
3rd Prize
The Right to Family Life
a series of articles by Anna Louie Sussman (United States)
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE
1st Prize
Exposing The RSF's Secret Financial Network
by Richard Kent, Nick Donovan and Mohamed Aboelgheit (United Kingdom)
2nd Prize
The Endless War: Iraq's Heavy Legacy of Depleted Uranium
by Mizar Kemal (Turkey)
3rd Prize
The Child Refugees ‘Sold’ Through Facebook
by Philip Obaji (Nigeria)
OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
1st Prize
“Worse Than a Death Sentence”: Inside India’s Sham Trials That Could Strip Millions of Citizenship
by Rohini Mohan (India)
2nd Prize
Undercover Investigation on Nigeria's Criminal Justice System
by Fisayo Soyombo (Nigeria)
3rd Prize
Sucked Dry: Huge Swaths of Land Acquired by Foreign Investors in Africa's Nile River Basin Export Profits, Displace Communities
by Fredrick Mugira, Annika McGinnis, Geoffrey Kamadi, Nada Arafat, Saker El Nour, Ayele Addis Ambelu, Paul Jimbo, David Monodanga, Tricia Govindasamy, Chrispine Odhiambo, Sakina Salem, Emma Kisa and Jacopo Ottaviani (Uganda)
EXCELLENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM
1st Prize
How Science Got Trampled in the Rush to Drill in the Arctic
by Adam Federman (United States)
2nd Prize
Why Switzerland Struggles with Dirty Gold: Tales From Peru
by Paula Dupraz-Dobias (Switzerland)
3rd Prize
Land of Resistants
by Dora Edelmira Montero Carvajal, Andrés Bermudez Liévano, Tatiana Pardo, María Paula Murcia, Ginna Morelo, Sara Castrillejo, Helena Calle, César Rojas Jeanneth Valdivieso, Lisset Boon, Ezequiel Fernández, Juliana Mori, Isabela Ponce,Vienna Herrera, Alexa Vélez
(Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela)
Find out the full list of FJA winners and finalists here.
“The worldwide crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented health emergency affecting the global population. This is no time for propaganda or fake news. The yearning for trusted, reliable streams of information is evident in every country. Public use of trusted media brands is at unprecedented levels. When people’s lives depend on it they turn to ethical, accurate and independent journalism they can trust. It is support for such journalism that has inspired the Fetisov Journalism Awards (FJA) which launched in 2019.”
Aidan White, Founder of the Ethical Journalism Network, FJA Jury Member
A quote from FJA Annual Publication 2019 “Reporting the Truth: Journalism That Illuminates the World”