Hong Kong (AFP) - Agence France-Presse has launched the 2018 Kate Webb Prize for locally employed Asian journalists doing exceptional work in difficult or dangerous conditions in the region.
The winner, who will be selected from applicants by a jury, will receive 3,000 euros (approximately $3,500) in cash and a certificate.
Applications will be accepted until November 15, 2018.
The winner will be invited to a prize-giving ceremony.
The contest is open to Asian text and visual journalists for their work published in the course of 2018.
"The last year has thrown up fresh challenges to press freedoms globally -– and in parts of the Asia-Pacific region in particular," said Philippe Massonnet, AFP’s regional director.
"With the Kate Webb Prize, we look to acknowledge and encourage local journalists who are facing these challenges head on and carrying out crucial investigative work, often at substantial personal risk," he added.
Reporter Mratt Kyaw Thu won the 2017 prize for his compelling and rigorous coverage of ethnic strife in his native Myanmar.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the prize, named after a crusading AFP reporter who died in 2007 at the age of 64 after a colourful career covering the world's trouble spots -- including Afghanistan.
The Kate Webb Prize was first awarded in 2008 to Pakistani reporter Mushtaq Yusufzai for his coverage of the dangerous tribal lands bordering Afghanistan.
Other winners have included the independent Afghan TV station Tolo, journalist Patricia Evangelista from the Philippines (conflict and disaster coverage), Indian reporter and photographer Dilnaz Boga (Kashmir reporting), Indonesian journalist Stefanus Teguh Edi Pramono (drug trade in Jakarta), and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (to help fund PCIJ’s programmes to promote journalist safety).
Webb, who was born in New Zealand, earned a reputation for bravery while covering the Vietnam War and other historic events in Asia during a career spanning four decades. She is remembered as a mentor and inspiration to Asian journalists in countries where she worked.
The prize is administered by AFP and the Webb family.
Please send applications by email to the Kate Webb Prize Jury at katewebbprize@afp.com no later than midnight in Hong Kong on November 15, 2018 (1600 GMT).
Applicants should submit the following:
1. A letter to the AFP Kate Webb Prize Jury explaining why you deserve the award.
2. Your CV with two professional references.
3. For reporters and photographers, at least three (3) samples of your work published on different dates in 2018. They can be submitted in PDF format as they appeared in the publications, or via links to the online versions. The more samples you submit, the better.
4. For video journalists, at least three (3) samples of your work broadcast or published online in 2018 via links to YouTube or other hosting sites.
5. We accept work in English or any Asian national language, provided that there is an English translation. Photo captions and video scripts (or subtitles) must be in English.
6. The competition excludes AFP staff, stringers and their relatives.
