LONDON, November 20, 2024 – The Kurt Schork Memorial Fund today announces four winners of its annual international journalism awards, celebrating courageous work in Haiti, Central America and Ukraine.

This year’s Local Reporter Award goes to Jeff Mackenley Garcon, an investigative journalist working for the digital news site Enquet’Action based in Port-au-Prince. His winning stories depict scenes of violent gang warfare that has ravaged Haiti and attempts by local communities to fight back. The judges said his work sheds a remorseless light on the world of Haiti’s fearsome gangs, leaving the reader in awe of his incredible bravery in reporting extraordinary stories. While he took risks to gain access to the neighbourhoods about which he reported, he never made the risks the story and brought Haiti to life through his writing.

The 2024 Freelancer prize is awarded to Juan José Martínez d’Aubuisson, who has been reporting since 2008 on violence, gangs and corruption in Central America and the Caribbean. His stories focus on the battle of indigenous communities in Honduras against drug traffickers, prison violence in the region and clashes on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as thousands of Haitians flee gang violence into the neighbouring country. The judges praised his politically astute and forensic reporting that will stay long in the memory. His stories captured the essence of their extremely challenging subject matter and bore witness to the courage and ingenuity of their author.

The annual News Fixer Award is shared this year by Ievgeniia Sivorka and Oleksandr Chubko for their outstanding work in Ukraine. Ievgeniia Sivorka worked regularly for the Wall Street Journal covering Russia’s full-scale invasion, while Oleksandr Chubko worked with New York Times correspondents. Deciding that this year’s prize should be shared, the judges said: “The quality of all the shortlisted entries was extraordinarily high, and it is right that the prize is shared between two fixers who are both outstanding for their ingenuity and hard work in accessing hard-to-reach interviewees, finding and chasing story leads, excellent military and social sources, practical ability and personal bravery.”

The judges commended Ievgeniia Sivorka’s journalistic acumen, her wealth of contacts and her compassionate demeanour which helped shape important and exclusive reports on Russia’s war against Ukraine by the Wall Street Journal. They commended Oleksandr Chubko for his intrepid and extraordinary work for the New York Times, which contributed to the world’s understanding of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They praised his journalistic skills, including his deep network of sources, physical courage and his empathetic, respectful manner.

The News Fixer Award aims to recognise the rarely credited yet often at-risk individuals who typically act as the foreign correspondent’s eyes and ears on the ground. The prize was inspired by the freelance journalist, author and friend of Kurt Schork, Anna Husarska, and pays tribute to the vital role that these unsung heroes play in coverage from difficult, dangerous and hostile locations.

The winners of the local and freelance journalism prizes each receive a cash prize of $5,000 and their work will be highlighted on the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund’s website and through other media channels over the coming weeks. The two winners of the News Fixer Award each receive $3,500.

Details of the 2024 finalists and judges for each category are as follows:

Finalists

Freelance Journalist Award:

• Guillaume Pajot – France
• Rania Abouzeid -Australia-Lebanon
• Nguyen Quoc Buu – Vietnam
• Fermin Torrano – Spain
• Pierre Terraz and Paul Boyer (Joint Entry)

Local Reporter Award:

• Anastasia Ivantsiv – Ukraine
• Asami Terajima – Ukraine
• Abid Hussain – Pakistan
• Ilia Rozhdestvenskii – Russia

News Fixer Award:

• Alla Didur, Ukraine
• Yurii Shyvala, Ukraine
• Artem Lysak, Ukraine

Judges – Freelance and Local Reporter Awards:

• Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian
• Giles Elgood, long-time editor, Reuters
• Matthew Mpoké Bigg, International Correspondent, New York Times

Judges – News Fixer Award:

• Julian Evans, writer and journalist
• Julian Borger, The Guardian
• Dan De Luce, National Security and Global Affairs Reporter, NBC News

About the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund

Named in honour of American freelance journalist Kurt Schork, the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund exists to keep the world aware of the debt owed to brave journalists who work hard – often at great personal risk – to report on conflict, corruption and injustice. The annual Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism uniquely honour the work of freelance journalists, local reporters and news fixers, who often otherwise receive little recognition. The Fund would like to thank the Thomson Reuters Foundation for its support in administering the awards and specifically the contribution of the Foundation’s Belén Becerra.