“Le Monde” awarded at the Bayeux Prize for war correspondents

The journalist of World, Allan Kaval, won the Bayeux-Calvados Prize for war correspondents in the written press category for his report “In north-eastern Syria, the slow death of jihadist prisoners” published in October 2019. Photographer Laurent Van Der Stockt also received third prize in the photo category for his report “Iraqi protest: young people demand change” published in The world in December.

In his report in Syria, Allan Kaval, also winner of the Ouest-France Jean-Marin Prize, recounted the interior of a prison managed by Kurdish forces, in the governorate of Hasake, in the northeast of the country. This is where hundreds of detainees are crammed, the last diehards of the Islamic State (IS) group’s “caliphate”, often captured wounded or dying after the fall of Baghouz, the very last ISIS territory.

Special envoy to Nagorno-Karabakh at the beginning of October, Allan Kaval was seriously injured with photographer Rafael Yaghobzadeh in the bombings on the small town of Martouni, and had to be repatriated to France.

In the written press category, the 2^e prize was awarded to Fritz Schaap, for his report “Rain wars”, on the tensions in the region between Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, and published in the German weekly Der Spiegel.

Jack Losh received the 3^e award for a report published in the American magazine Foreign Policy titled “Central African forest rangers are as threatened as the animals they protect,” writes in the Central African Republic.

Topics on Hong Kong, Afghanistan or the Uighurs

In the photo category – International Jury Nikon Prize, the first prize was awarded to Lorenzo Tugnoli, of the Contrasto agency, for “The Longer War”, published in the Washington post. The 2^e prize goes to Anthony Wallace, of the AFP agency, for “Hong Kong, a popular revolt”; it also receives the Audience Award, sponsored by the French Development Agency.

In the TV category – International Jury, Amnesty International Prize, the 1^er prize goes to John Sudworth and Wang Xiping for a BBC report on “Uighur Families”; this report also collects the Normandy Region Prize for high school students and apprentices. The 2^e the award goes to Julie Dungelhoeff, Catherine Norris Trent and Abdallah Malkawi from France 24 for a report entitled “Libya: trap infernal”. The 3^e prize goes to Nicolas Joxe, Abdulrazzak Madi, Fajr Oraby, Belal Albayush and Obaida Alnabwani for a report broadcast on Arte and entitled “Syria: civilians under bombs near Aleppo”.

In the radio category – International Jury, Landing Committee Prize, the 1^er the award goes to Sonia Ghezali and Wahlah Shahzaib, of RFI, for a report entitled “Afghanistan: after the attack on the MSF maternity hospital”. The 2^e prize is awarded to Gwendoline Debono, from Europe 1, for “A strike, fractures: the death of General Soleimani in Iraq” and the 3^e prize goes to Emilie Baujard, from RTL, for “Les Indésirable d’Hassaké”.

Ed Vulliamy, the president of the international jury, said to himself “ exhausted, not from lack of sleep, but from the intensity of what we are doing here. It is an honor to chair this jury: the Bayeux Prize is the epicenter, the center of gravity of our profession. What is great about the deliberations is that there is no notion of good or bad: we have to make a judgment, impossible by definition. We have to choose between the excellent and the best of all ”.