US, Mexican journalists win Kurt Schork awards

Sarah Topol, an American journalist based in Cairo, won the freelance category award for her coverage for GQ magazine of the realities for both sides in Libya during the struggle to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.

The local reporter category was won by Humberto Padgett of Mexico for a series of articles published by Emeequis magazine about the complexities, misconceptions and consequences of drugs trafficking in Mexico.

Some 150 journalists submitted articles for the awards, now in their 11th year. A shortlist of eight in each of the two categories was then forwarded to the main judging panel, comprising Sir Harold Evans, Reuters editor-at-large; Christine Hauser of The New York Times; Paul Eedle, director of programmes at al-Jazeera English; and Michael Buerk, BBC journalist, presenter and newsreader. Hauser and Eedle are former Reuters correspondents.

In the results announced on Thursday the judges applauded both winners for their strong on-the-ground reporting and vivid insights, reflecting the journalistic spirit of Schork, pictured, who was reporting for Reuters when he was killed in Sierra Leone in 2000.

The winners will each receive a cash prize of $5,000 at a ceremony to be held at the Thomson Reuters auditorium at Canary Wharf, London, on 7 November.

Kurt Schork Memorial Fund ■