Application Deadline:June 14, 2024.
Applications are now open for the 2024 Kurt Schork Memorial Fund (KSMF) Awards in International Journalism.
Now in their 23rd year, the Awards honour American freelance journalist Kurt Schork – who was killed in 2000 while on assignment for Reuters in Sierra Leone – and recognise excellence in courageous reporting of conflict, corruption, injustice and human rights transgressions.
The Freelance Award is open to journalists who travel the world’s conflict zones, usually at great personal risk, to witness and report on the impact and consequences of these events.
The Freelance Award winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000. The deadline for entries has been extended to midnight (GMT) on Friday, June 14 2024. Judges will look for journalistic excellence in applicants’ submissions and evidence of determination and courage in obtaining their stories.
Award Categories
The three award categories, open to those reporting for print and online publications, recognise the media professionals that Kurt particularly admired:
- Freelance Award: recognising freelance journalists who travel to the world’s conflict zones, usually at great personal risk, to witness and report on the impact and consequences of these events.
- Local Reporter Award: recognising the often-overlooked work of journalists in developing nations, or countries in transition, who write about events in their homeland.
- News Fixer Award: recognising the work of local journalists or experts, typically hired by foreign correspondents, whose guidance and local knowledge play an unsung but vital role in facilitating international coverage from difficult, dangerous or hostile locations.
submission criteria
- Entrants to the Freelance Award must submit three articles each.
- The submitted articles must have been published between June 1, 2023 and June 14, 2024.
- Accepted media: any print-based medium, such as newspapers and magazines, or established online publications. Blogs, personal websites and social media pages or channels are not accepted.
- Articles can encompass war reporting, human rights issues, cross-border troubles, corruption or other controversial matters impacting on people’s lives. Judges will be looking for professionalism, high journalistic standards, and evidence of dedication and courage in obtaining the story.
- Because of problems with scanned entries and failed links in previous years, we require that each article be provided as a text file – MS Word (.doc or .docx) or similar text format (.rtf), or a PDF of a text file.
- You may supply a URL link to your article(s), or a scan (as a PDF or JPG file) as supporting evidence of the publication context, but your entry will be disqualified if you do not also submit the required text files.
Submission Procedure:
Additional material you must provide:
- A CV or resumé about your education and journalism career.
- A passport-quality photo (JPEG, GIF or PNG file, size no larger than 250Kb) of yourself.
- A high standard English translation if the original articles are not in English.
- A short statement explaining what you had to do to get the story.
Kindly note the maximum file size for text submissions or scans is 5Mb. Entrants must complete the online entry form (or a PDF for printing and posting if not possible).
More Info: Kurt Schork Memorial Fund
