Each year, the International Center for Journalists honors outstanding colleagues with the ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award at our Tribute to Journalists. We are now seeking nominees whose pioneering coverage or media innovations have made an impact on the lives of people in their countries or regions. Candidates can be reporters, editors, technologists, media managers or citizen journalists. Those who meet the award’s criteria may nominate themselves. Please submit your nominations by the extended deadline of Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022.
Our 2021 ICFJ Knight Award winners were Natália Leal and Pavla Holcová. Leal heads the trailblazing Brazilian site, Agência Lupa, which debunked massive amounts of deadly pandemic misinformation from President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies. Holcová, founder of a groundbreaking investigative journalism site in the Czech Republic, completed a report she had begun with a colleague who was brutally murdered, helping to bring down the Slovak government in the process.
At a time when attacks on journalists are rampant, the ICFJ Knight Award brings global visibility to the winners, whose courageous reporting often puts them at risk. Holcová said it provides awardees “an invisible shield,” helping to protect them against those who want to silence investigative reporting. Leal said the award “makes us feel like we are not alone. We have this network, and we can help each other.”
The award reflects the mission of ICFJ's Knight Fellowships, which create and spread news innovation to better engage communities and improve lives. The program is supported by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. See past awardees here.
The winners will be honored Nov. 10 at ICFJ’s 2022 Tribute to Journalists.
For more information about the awards, please contact Monica Lopez at mlopez@icfj.org. For information about the awards event, please contact Emily Schult at eschult@icfj.org.
Please help us celebrate the contributions of outstanding journalists by nominating one today. You can find the nomination form here.