Announcing the 2023 Young Journalist Award finalists
Young journalists from more than 60 countries entered this year’s prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award 2023.
Countries from across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America were represented by 240 journalists under the age of 30. Three finalists have now been chosen out of this extraordinary array of talent.
Many of the journalists who entered the competition told us that they seek to amplify ‘missing voices’ – those people whose stories are rarely told. Our judges read through or watched hundreds of articles and videos on a myriad of issues from refugees, migration and climate change to wildlife trafficking, government cover-ups and women’s rights.
The jury panel who reviewed the work of the shortlisted finalists decided that the top three competing for the 2023 Young Journalist Award are Yara El Murr, a journalist from Lebanon, and two journalists from Pakistan – Jamaima Afridi and Zuha Siddiqui.
The three finalists
Yara El Murr, 25, is a journalist for The Public Source in Lebanon. She tackles the issue of migration from Lebanon to Europe through the eyes of a brother and sister who board a small boat along with many other people one night. The story follows the pair through their harrowing ordeal which ends in tragedy for the family.
Karachi is one of the most polluted cities on earth and for her investigation into environmental pollution, published by VICE news, Zuha Siddiqui reported on the distressing deaths of 16 children in one part of the city. Zuha, 29, is a labour and tech reporting fellow for Rest of World.
In a rural area of Pakistan, freelance journalist Jamaima Afridi interviews tribal women who are fighting for their inheritance rights in a story published by Voicepk.net. Jamaima, 22, describes the women she spoke to as ‘courageous’ for fighting opposition from tribal elders and society at large.
It's heartening to know there are so many talented young journalists around the world
The competition
The Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award is open to journalists aged 30 and under from countries with a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of less than US$20,000. The annual competition is organised in partnership with the UK's Foreign Press Association (FPA).
“It’s really heartening to know that there are so many young, talented journalists around the world who are committed to exposing wrongdoing and holding power to account,” says Deborah Kelly, director of training and communications at Thomson Foundation. “Many of those who submitted work for this year’s competition are working in difficult and dangerous situations and deserve our admiration for their efforts to expose the truth.”
This year’s winner will be announced at the FPA’s Media Awards on November 20th in London.
