(Paris) The 83e Albert Londres prize, the most prestigious in French-speaking journalism, was awarded on Monday to French-Lebanese journalist Caroline Hayek of the French-language daily L’Orient-Le Jour for a series of reports on Lebanon.
The 2021 prize list is marked by the theme of injustice, “raw material for reports submitted to the jury”, which “journalism turns into anger”, underlines the Albert Londres association in a press release.
“A walk in a failing Beirut”, “The first days of the rest of their lives” or “They fled the war in Syria … they died in the explosions in Beirut”: this “series of articles with evocative titles takes the reader at the end of humanity ”, greets the organization.
The award received by Caroline Hayek, at L’Orient-Le Jour since 2014, also honors the French-speaking Lebanese daily newspaper launched in 1924, “open to the challenges of the world and concerned with making people understand what is happening around the corner. Hamra Street, ”he adds.
“Newspapers are dying in Lebanon and L’Orient-Le Jour is doing everything to resist. For the entire editorial staff, (this award) is encouraging, it gives us hope, ”Caroline Hayek, who is also a columnist for French-speaking Belgian Radio-television and correspondent for L’Express in France, told AFP.
For the director of L’Orient-Le Jour Michel Helou, “this award has a unique flavor”. “Long considered the richest and freest in the Middle East, the Lebanese press is today filled with desolation. With this award, we show that it is still possible to do quality journalism in Lebanon and the region, ”he told AFP.
And “handing over L’Albert-Londres to a Lebanese newspaper is to establish the universality of the French language, which for us is also a Lebanese language”, he added.
The 37e audiovisual award, which rewards the best audiovisual report, went to independent journalists Alex Gohari and Léo Mattei for their film “On the line, the expelled from America”, produced by Brotherfilms and broadcast on France 2 and Public Senate .
Universal stories
The documentary tells the story of Mexicans “who, after having lived all their lives in the United States, are deported to Mexico, a country they do not know, because they are Mexicans only by the piece of paper that we grants them, ”Alex Gohari told AFP.
“The stories of migration and unjust policies are universal. We are happy and reassured that films denouncing these absurd and violent migration policies are being promoted, ”added the journalist.
Independent photojournalist Émilienne Malfatto, who began her career with the Colombian daily El Espectador and then at Agence France-Presse, received the 5e book prize for “The snakes will come for you”, published by Les Arènes Reporters.
In this book, the journalist, who lived for several years in Colombia, investigates the murder of a Colombian mother of six children committed in general indifference. She recounts the scourge of the assassinations of trade unionists, association leaders or ordinary citizens who only sought to assert their rights.
“It is a symptomatic phenomenon of the violence that persists in Colombia despite the peace agreements in 2016 between the Colombian government and the FARC” (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), explains Émilienne Malfatto, also winner of the 2021 Goncourt prize for the first novel. for “May the Tiger lament over you”.
The award ceremony was held in Paris, at the National Library of France (BnF).
Created in 1933 in homage to the French journalist Albert Londres (1884-1932), father of the great modern reportage, the prize is endowed with 3000 euros for each of the laureates, who must be under 41 years old.