It’s a huge reward. Monday evening, Rennes journalist Nicolas Legendre received the Albert Londres prize, the most prestigious award for French-speaking journalism, in the book category. The author of “Silence in the Fields” published in April by Arthaud editions, was able to seduce the jury by producing an in-depth investigation of more than 300 pages on the subject of Breton agriculture. Son of peasants, the one who has long been a correspondent of World in Brittany surveyed the region to collect testimonies from more than 150 witnesses: farmers, trade unionists, veterinarians, elected officials, cooperative employees. “I saw farmers at the end of their nerves, on the verge of tears when they spoke to me about their situation. The Breton agricultural system has reached an impasse and it produces a lot of suffering. I knew it but I didn’t think the situation was so dramatic,” he explained to 20 minutes in an interview published in April.
The publication of the work caused a lot of noise in France’s leading agricultural region. Several voices, notably those of the FNSEA, were raised to denounce an “incriminating” book and portray the author as “an enemy of Brittany”. “This region, I grew up there, I love it. Brittany, for me, is visceral. But it pains me to see her as she is today,” replied Nicolas Legendre.
A rare feather and prize-winning ghost children
In the written press category, the 85th Albert Londres prize was awarded to Belgian journalist Wilson Fache. Aged 31, this independent editor has won awards for his reports on Afghanistan, the Tel Aviv bus station and Ukraine. The jury described “a rare pen, a talent for evocation, an ability to take his audience into atmospheres”.
As for the audiovisual prize, it was awarded to Hélène Lam Trong for her film “Daesh, the Phantom Children” which evokes the sad fate of the hundreds of children that France allows to grow up in prisons in Syria.