Reuters has been awarded two 2019 Pulitzer Prizes from Columbia University, marking the second consecutive year that Reuters has received two Pulitzer Prizes.
Reuters journalists Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues were recognized as co-winners, alongside the Associate Press, in the International Reporting category, for their series of investigations on the mass expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in the course of their reporting on a massacre of 10 Rohingya men and boys in Inn Din. They were sentenced to seven years in a Yangon prison in September, and have spent 490 days in jail. Awarding the prize to Reuters, the Pulitzer committee recognized the team for “expertly exposing the military units and Buddhist villagers responsible for the systematic expulsion and murder of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, courageous coverage that landed its reporters in prison.”
Reuters photographers Mike Blake, Lucy Nicholson, Loren Elliott, Edgard Garrido, Adrees Latif, Goran Tomasevic, Kim Kyung Hoon, Alkis Konstantinidis, Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Carlos Barria and Ueslei Marcelino were recognized in the Breaking News Photography category, for their photos of the mass migration of Central and South Americans towards the U.S. border, and its aftermath. Awarding the prize to Reuters, the Pulitzer committee recognized the team for “a vivid and startling visual narrative of the urgency, desperation and sadness of migrants as they journeyed to the U.S. from Central and South America.”
“While it’s gratifying to be recognized for the work, public attention should be focused more on the people about whom we report than on us: in this case, the Rohingya and the Central American migrants,” said Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler.
“I’m thrilled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues have been recognized for their extraordinary, courageous coverage, and our photojournalists for their moving pictures that show humanity defying huge obstacles,” said Adler. “I remain deeply distressed, however, that our brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still behind bars just for reporting the truth.”
[Reuters Press Blog]
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