Kurt Schork award winners honoured in London

They were Adrian Mogos of the Bucharest-based daily newspaper Jurnalul National who was recognised for an in-depth investigation into human rights violations on the illegal immigration trail from eastern to western Europe, and British freelancer Stephen Grey for a series of articles on Afghanistan.

A panel comprising Jeremy Bowen of the BBC, John Burns of The New York Times, Sir Harold Evans, former editor of The Times and The Sunday Times, Rana Husseini, author and human rights activist, and Michela Wrong, author and former Reuters correspondent, selected the two winners.

The judges said Mogos provided an excellent in-depth investigation into issues of compelling importance. They felt he showed great initiative, persistence and ingenuity, backed up with excellent research to expose human rights violations. 

The judges were particularly impressed with the quality of Grey’s articles on Afghanistan, saying they represented some of the best coverage anywhere, combining maturity with excellent analytical skills, and making a complex war more understandable.

The awards are made by the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund, created in March 2001 in honour of Kurt Schork who was killed in a military ambush while on assignment in Sierra Leone for Reuters in May 2000. They are administered by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and recognise fearless freelance news reporting and those journalists who report from their own countries at great personal risk and sacrifice. The awards were presented by Sean Maguire, Reuters editor, political and general news.

Bowen recalled Schork as "razor sharp, he was leader of the pack…a great guy, greatly missed".  Schork's partner Sabina Cosic attended the event.

PHOTO: Stephen Grey (L) and Adrian Mogos with their 2010 Kurt Schork awards. ■