The Bayeux War Correspondents Prize was awarded on Saturday to reports broadcast by Zeit Magazin in the written press, The New York Times in photo, Europe 1 on radio and the BBC on TV. For the first time in the history of the Prize, of which it is the 28th edition, the name of a winner remains anonymous for his safety. It is about a Burmese rewarded in photo for The Spring Revolution carried out in his country and published by the New York Times.
In the written press, Wolfgang Bauer, born in 1970, receives both the International Jury Prize, chaired by the great Franco-Iranian reporter Manoocher Deghati, and the West France Jean Marin. Already crowned in Bayeux in 2016 for a report in Nigeria, he is this time rewarded for an article published by the German newspaper Zeit Magazin, Among Taliban (Among the Taliban). It is a report which “analyzes well the strategy of the Taliban”, their advance “kilometer by kilometer”, “village by village” from the mountains where they were withdrawn since 2001, explained to AFP the president of the jury. Manoocher Deghati.
“It’s filmed like in the cinema”
Bosnians Damir Sagolj and Danis Tanovic win both the Large Format TV category and the Video Image category. They are awarded for When we were them (When we were them) a report with “a lot of resources”, according to the president of the jury, on the thousands of migrants lost in the north of Bosnia-Herzegovina and broadcast on Al Jazeera Balkans. Journalists have spent “months and months” in the field, said Manoocher Deghati. “It’s filmed like in the cinema. We had a debate on that. Some said “it’s more cinema” [que du reportage]. But in my opinion it gives more value to the subject, argued Manoocher Deghati.
In radio, the International Jury Prize is awarded to Margaux Benn for In Kandahar, entire villages have become mined lands, report broadcast on Europe 1 which also makes it possible to “understand” the strategy of the Taliban, according to Manoocher Deghati. In TV, it is attributed to Orla Guerin and Goktay Koraltan for Snipers in Yemen broadcast on the BBC. They also receive the high school student prize. “It’s an incredible story of snipers shooting at children,” said Manoocher Deghati.
The Young Reporter Award (written press) is won by Thomas D’Istria for Revolution in the last dictatorship in Europe, a report in Belarus published by The world. The winner is a student who spent a year in underground journalism. “We appreciated his courage in being able to remain underground for a year and get his information out,” Manoocher Deghati explained. The Audience Award goes to Reuters’ Abu Mustafa Ibraheem for Gaza: 11 days of bombing. Manoocher Deghati chaired a jury of around forty journalists, French or British. The prices are 3,000 or 7,000 euros depending on the category.