French prize for war reporters’ work in Myanmar, Mideast, Ukraine, Haiti


By AFP
October 14, 2023

Jury president Don McCullin attended a tribute to journalists killed over the past year - including AFP video reporter Arman Soldin, killed in a rocket attack in eastern Ukraine - Copyright AFP Adrian DENNIS

France’s prestigious Bayeux War Correspondents’ Awards picked out a clutch of writers and photographers Saturday for their work covering conflict in Haiti, Myanmar, the Mideast and Ukraine.

The 30th edition of the award ceremony was marked with a homage to Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, killed on assignment Friday covering the conflict in southern Lebanon as Israel steps up retaliation for last week’s massive Hamas attack.

Six other reporters were injured — including AFP photographer Christina Assi and her video service colleague Dylan Collins.

British-Italian freelance photographer Siegfried Modola was honoured for his work which saw him clandestinely enter Myanmar, racked by unrest following a 2021 coup. His photo essay on a militia group for Canada’s Globe and Mail was widely hailed.

Anthony Loyd, British reporter with The Times, took the written press plaudits for his investigative reporting on ISIS’s “forgotten hostage” John Cantlie, the Briton kidnapped by the Islamic extremists in Syria in 2012.

Swiss RTS radio and France Info reporter Maurine Mercier was singled out for a harrowing piece on a woman twice raped in Bucha, Ukraine.

Also garlanded were CNN team Nick Paton Walsh, Brice Laine, Natalie Gallon and Etienne Dupont for a piece documenting war between Haiti’s police and gangs.

Jury president, veteran photojournalist Don McCullin, who earlier attended a tribute to journalists killed in the past year while on assignment, including AFP video coordinator Arman Soldin, killed in a rocket attack in eastern Ukraine, said the prize winners were selected after lengthy and tough debate.