Kurt Schork awards honour murdered Iraqi journalist and German investigative reporter

For the second year in a row, the Kurt Schork Memorial Awards have honoured a journalist killed in Iraq because of critical reporting.

Sahar al-Haideri, a mother of four and contributor to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) as well as Iraqi media, was gunned down in June in Mosul after receiving death threats for a series of campaigning stories highlighting the influence of religious extremists, especially in curtailing the rights of women. Al-Haideri, 44, has received the 2007 Schork award for local journalists.

“Al-Haideri’s investigation of the ‘honour killing’ amongst Yezidis was exceptional,” said Lindsey Hilsum, international editor and China correspondent for the UK’s Channel 4 News and a member of the judges panel. “There is a passion to these stories, and I read them before the background notes, so did not realise she had been subsequently murdered. It is unbelievably upsetting.”

The 2006 Schork Awards recognised US journalist Steven Vincent, who was killed in Basra.

In the international category, Mario Kaiser, a contributor to Der Spiegel, won for his reporting on a young Mexican women’s journey as an illegal immigrant to New York. Kaiser researched the article by putting himself in the hands of a smuggler in order to understand the hardships of illegal migrants

“This is a perennial story, brilliantly retold and made new,” said the judges panel, which also included Raymond Bonner of the New York Times, writer and commentator Mona Eltahawy, Brian Groom of the Financial Times, and Christina Lamb of the Sunday Times. “His resourcefulness and courage in committing himself to the hands of a coyote [smuggler] were exceptional.”

The Schork Awards, administered by the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund and the media-development group IWPR, uniquely honour excellence and bravery in freelance reporting from areas of crisis and transition. The goal is to recognise and assist freelance and local journalists who make such a critical contribution to international understanding but whose work is often overlooked.

Established in 2001, they celebrate the life and work of Kurt Schork, the former freelance reporter who was killed six years ago in Sierra Leone while on assignment for Reuters.

The winning stories focus on conflict, human-rights concerns, cross-border issues, or any other issue of controversy in a particular country or region. Nominees are judged on the quality of writing and investigative effort, and on the level of courage and resourcefulness demonstrated in producing the stories.

Two cash prizes of $5,000 each are given, one to a local reporter covering stories in a developing country or nation in transition, the other to a freelance journalist covering international news. The aim is to provide financial assistance to those practising courageous journalism in developing countries but are poorly paid.

The awards and cash prize will be presented to Kaiser and al-Haideri’s husband on November 14, at a ceremony at the Frontline Club in London hosted by CNN chief international correspondent and Schork Fund advisory board member Christiane Amanpour.

The evening will include a debate on the challenges of accessing, checking and disseminating reports from inside the world’s most politically problematic and isolated countries – including Burma, North Korea, China, and Iran.