UNCA Awards WINNERS 2024 - United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA)

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE

2024 UNCA Awards Winners

2024 UNCA AWARDS WINNERS

The United Nations Correspondents Association is honored to announce the 28th annual UNCA Awards and Dag Hammarskjold Fund for Journalists taking place on Friday, December 13th at Casa Cipriani South Street in New York. United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed will be the guest of honor of the evening and Theo James, will attend the event to receive the 2024 UNCA Global Citizen Award.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed Picture

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Theo James, 2024 Global Citizen of the Year

The Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize

For print (including online media) coverage of the United Nations, UN agencies and field operations

sponsored by The Alexander Bodini Foundation

This prize is named in honor of Elizabeth Neuffer, the Boston Globe bureau chief at the United Nations, died while on assignment in Baghdad in 2003. She was a model journalist who proved throughout her career that objectivity does not have to mean neutrality. She was passionate, courageous and compassionate, drawing attention to the forgotten places in the world and to the overlooked victims of war. She explored the forces that can ignite fratricidal and genocidal conflict and her work helped inspire the movement that led to the creation of the International Criminal Court. Personally, her colleagues in UNCA treasure her for her inveterate good humor, which counterbalanced her deadly serious explorations of the darker sides of modern history.

Neuffer Gold Medal Recipient

Betul Yuruk, CNBC Turkey, Envoy - US

Betul Yuruk, a correspondent for CNBC Turkey and editor at Envoy magazine, asked UN expert Richard Gowan how he viewed the UN now and 20 years ago. Gowan’s answers were comprehensive and reflected deep concern over the ineffectiveness of the organization to deal with challenging and cumulative crises. He said the loss of credibility resulted mostly from the Security Council’s division and inability to take action where it is needed and the UN’s ineffectiveness now is similar to the situation during the war in Iraq that started in 2003.

Neuffer Silver Medal Recipient

France 24/PassBlue - US

Jessica Le Masurier and journalists from PassBlue and France 24 shared bylined stories on the war in Gaza, particularly efforts by the US to deliver life-saving aid to Palestinians affected by the war. One of the urgent tasks was building a moving jetty off Gaza’s coast where US navy ships can deliver the aid. But the project faced criticism and was cancelled. The journalists also described how despondent Gaza inhabitants struggled daily to survive and many families were forced to let children go hungry for the lack of food supplies.

Neuffer Bronze Medal Recipient

Yvonne Murray, RTÉ News - US

Yvonne Murray, the Global Security Reporter at RTE News, reported from the UN Headquarters in New York how decisions, or the lack of them, by the UN Security Council regarding the war in Gaza had severely affected the solid relationship between Israel and the US, and how the UN got caught between the two countries. Fighting in Gaza raged despite a ceasefire called by the council while Israel prevented delivery of UN-supported humanitarian aid to Palestinians. A diplomat said the council is not a supranational entity with a standing military to enforce its decisions.

The Prince Albert II of Monaco & UNCA Global Prize

For print (including online media) and broadcast media (TV & Radio) coverage of Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Water

Since His accession to the Throne in 2005, Prince Albert II of Monaco has made sustainable development His priority. Through His personal leadership, he has committed to promote the well-being of vulnerable communities and the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources.

Prince Albert Gold Medal Recipient

Bloomberg News Staff, Bloomberg News - US

A team of Bloomberg News Staff has won the Prince Albert Gold Medal for documenting the alarming trend of what they call the “global hunt for water profit.” The Bloomberg team spanned the globe, documenting how, for example, an investment company used Senegal’s only lake to irrigate crops for Saudia Arabia; how the water trade is sucking Australia dry; and how China’s richest person made billions bottling pristine river and mountain water.

Prince Albert Silver Medal Recipient

Rivonala Razafison, Mongabay - Madagascar

Rivonala Razafison, a reporter for the environmental news platform Mongabay, has won the Prince Albert Silver Medal for deeply sourced and comprehensive coverage of issues related to climate change in Madagascar. Reports include the impact of global warming on marine ecosystems, murderous attacks on environmental activists, and the use of drones to preserve biodiversity.

Neuffer Bronze Medal Recipient

Odimegwu Onwumere, The News Chronicle - Nigeria

Odimegwu Onwumere, a reporter for the online Nigerian newspaper The News Chronicle, has won the Prince Albert Bronze Medal for his in-depth coverage of the impact of climate change in the Niger Delta and UN responses. He documents the multitude of threats posed by rising sea levels and salinization, among them flooding, erosion, decline of mangrove and agricultural ecosystems, the decline of fishing stocks and population displacement.

The Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize

For broadcast media (TV & Radio) coverage of the United Nations, UN agencies and field operations

Sponsored by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)

This prize is Named in honor of Ricardo Ortega, formerly the New York correspondent for Antena 3 TV of Spain, was one of the leading Spanish journalists of his generation. His determination to bear witness first hand to what was happening around the world took him to dozens of countries. His war reporting from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Yugoslavia and Georgia was especially notable and he had a reputation for honesty, independence, determination and courage shown, for example, by his skeptical coverage of the evidence for Iraqi WMD’s presented to UN. Ricardo Ortega was killed by gunfire while covering Haiti on March 2004.

Ortega Gold Medal Recipient

Hannah Fisher, BBC - UK

Hanna Fisher of the BBC reported on coastal erosion around the world as inhabitants affected by the constant change due to the power of waves, coastal and tides realized that their lives have also changed. Fisher said coastal areas are also some of the most heavily populated and developed land areas in the world. In documentaries presented in the BBC World Service program CrowdedScience, reporters visited people living in Florida and Puerto Rico to survey the impact of hurricanes on coastal communities. Local scientists explained the methods used to monitor coastlines before and after hurricanes and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation methods.

Ortega Silver Medal Recipient

Cecilia Miljiker, La Nacion – Argentina

In her reports on the impact of plastic pollution on the Argentine marine ecosystem, La Nacion’s filmmaker and audiovisual producer Cecilia Miljiker described how pollution has had a destructive impact on marine life in some of the most beautiful coastline waters. Fishermen found what they described as new species of fishes that undeniably bear traces of industrial plastic pollution that stretched miles from coastlines in southern Peninsula Valdes and San Jose Gulf. They said the fishes appeared lifeless and the intake of plastics showed cuts in their digestive tracks.

Ortega Bronze Medal Recipient

Neil Marks, News Room - Guyana

Guyana’s efforts to preserve its rich rain forests, which cover 85 per cent of the country’s landmass, have helped Indigenous communities to prosper, said News Room’s Neil Marks who reported on issues ranging from climate to development. A total of $3.8 billion in payments were made to 232 Indigenous communities last year across Guyana to help them develop and implement economic, social and cultural programs. The country’s carbon credits provided the money to support Indigenous projects, based on the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous people.

All Bios are provided by the winning journalists themselves

2023 UNCA Awards Committee

Valeria Robecco (UNCA President), Giampaolo Pioli (Awards Chairman), Tuyet Nguyen (Awards Selections Coordinator) Sherwin Bryce-Pease (UNCA Executive Member) Edith Lederer (UNCA 1^st Vice President) Betul Yuruk (UNCA 2^nd Vice President) Linda Fasulo (UNCA Secretary)

2023 UNCA Awards Gallery

All 2024 UNCA Awards

Join Us

As the voice of the international press corps at the United Nations, UNCA continues to be a cornerstone of the global media landscape. Our members play a vital role in shaping the world’s understanding of key UN activities and global issues. Join us in promoting freedom of the press, access to information, and fair journalism worldwide.