The 84e Albert Londres Prize, the most prestigious of French-speaking journalism, was awarded Monday in Riga to the Franco-Canadian journalist Margaux Benn for her reports on the war in Ukraine published in the daily Le Figaro.
On the occasion of the 90e anniversary of the death of Albert Londres, the jury deliberated in the Latvian capital, “wishing to pay tribute to all the journalists who work to report on the war launched by Russia against Ukraine”.
The “singular pen” of Margaux Benn, senior reporter in the “Foreign” service of the Figaroalready pre-selected twice, was rewarded this year.
The jury “today salutes his style, his enviable writing, a tenderness in the gaze fixed on those who are at the front, unexpected angles and a permanent renewal of his art of storytelling”, he declares in a press release.
Having worked for Agence France-Presse, the New York Times, France 24 and the BBC, among others, the 34-year-old journalist is seasoned in conflict zones, such as in Sudan where she began her journalistic career more than ten years ago. year.
After four years in Afghanistan, the reporter, who was also awarded the Bayeux Prize for radio war correspondents last year, has been covering the war in Ukraine since March to Le Figaro.
Prize for work on Russia and nursing homes
38e Audiovisual Prize went to Alexandra Jousset and Ksenia Bolchakova for the 80-minute documentary Wagner, Putin’s shadow armyproduced by CAPA with France Télévisions.
They were the “first to document the actions of this army” – made up of mercenaries financed by a close associate of Putin – by “a thorough and implacable investigation” which contributed “to make us understand the stakes of the geopolitics of the Kremlin”, salute the jury.
6e Book Prize was awarded to Victor Castanet for The gravediggersthe investigative book that imploded Orpea, a behemoth in the private retirement home sector, by denouncing the mistreatment of residents, shortcomings in staff management and the misuse of public funds.
An Honor Prize was also awarded to Andriy Tsaplienko and Sevğil Musaieva, two journalists fromUkrainska Pravda“in order, through them, to show Ukrainian journalists unfailing solidarity for the work carried out on the war” in the country.
Created in 1933 in homage to the French journalist Albert Londres (1884-1932), father of great modern reporting, the prize is endowed with 3,000 euros (almost 4,200 Canadian dollars) for each of the winners, who must be under 41 years old.