Reuters has been recognized with an honor and citation at this year’s Overseas Press Club Awards, which celebrate excellence in international reporting in 2021.
Journalists Jake Spring, Stephen Eisenhammer, Ueslei Marcelino, along with their colleagues, won the Robert Spiers Benjamin Award for best reporting in any medium on Latin America. Through intrepid and original journalism, their seven-part series on the Amazon rainforest broke new ground. Their reporting in one special report exposed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s response to the destruction of the Amazon—sending in the army—as a costly failure, while a separate investigation documented the President’s work to incapacitate the country’s system for fining environmental offenders.
The news was reprinted worldwide in multiple languages and shared by influential scientists, environmentalists, and non-profits. The coverage also contributed to the government’s commitment to end illegal deforestation by 2028.
The judges said: “The Reuters team traveled to far-flung—and sometimes risky—corners of the rainforest to paint a comprehensive portrait of illegal deforestation and its far-reaching consequences.”
In addition, Reuters coverage of the conflict in Ethiopia received a citation for best newspaper, news service or digital reporting from abroad. Reuters reporters were recognized for their courageous journalism in revealing the atrocities committed against civilians by all sides in Ethiopia’s civil war, killing thousands of people.
Heading deep into war-torn territory, correspondents were arrested, beaten, and harassed as they set out to uncover the facts of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in a perilous region. Undeterred, the team reported a series of exclusive scoops and investigations that upended the narratives of the major players in the civil war–the central government, Eritrea, and the Tigrayan forces.
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Kayley. Rogers@ TR.com