Reuters recognized the best of its journalism from 2021 at its Journalists of the Year Awards.
Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who was killed while on assignment in Afghanistan last year, was recognized with three awards in the contest. He received the ‘Baron’ Award, which honors an individual who exemplifies the Reuters tradition of integrity and journalistic excellence, named after founder ‘Baron’ Paul Julius Reuter. The judges recognized Siddiqui’s outstanding commitment to important, public service journalism, and his personal and professional contribution to Reuters.
In addition to the Baron award, the judges felt that Siddiqui could be the only nominee in the category of Photojournalist of the Year. He also received the Photo of the Year Award, which is voted on by Thomson Reuters staff. His colleagues voted overwhelmingly for his striking image from the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
In the Story of the Year category, Reuters coverage of the war in Ethiopia won for its powerful, revelatory, agenda-setting and courageous coverage of a conflict that has claimed the lives of thousands, pushed about 400,000 into famine and displaced more than 2.5 million.
Energy coverage received a number of commendations in the 2021 Journalists of the Year Awards. Breakingviews columnist George Hay was honored in the Commentary and Analysis of the Year category for his agenda-setting commentary on how companies are grappling with the shift to reduce carbon emissions. In the Breaking News category, a team of reporters won for their coverage of the U.S.’s strategic petroleum release and the board seat fight at Exxon. And in the Business Beat category, coverage of the energy industry, including the transition of oil majors and corruption in the Latin America energy industry, was named a co-winner.
Reuters coverage of Amazon, including a series of investigations into the company’s business practices around the world, was a co-winner in the Business Beat category.
In the Full Speed Award category, which honors an individual or team who excels at reporting stories first and fast, the Reuters Turkey bureau won for being well ahead on key economic policy news and coverage of President Tayyip Erdogan’s defense of his unorthodox drive to slash interest rates below inflation.
Breaking news that Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was defecting from her home country during the Olympics was named the Scoop of the Year winner.
In the Enterprise Reporting category, Campaign of Fear – a series of agenda-setting investigations chronicling the campaign of intimidation carried out by supporters of former President Donald Trump against U.S. election workers – was named the winner. Linda So, one of the reporters on that series, was also named a co-winner in the Reporter of the Year category alongside Julie Zhu, who was honored for her exceptional coverage of Chinese companies including Evergrande, Didi and more.
A series of graphics examining how a 21st century construction boom is driving unregulated sand mining was named the winner in the Graphic of the Year category. Jonathan Stempel won in the Legal Reporting of the Year category, for being one of the fastest and most productive journalists covering courts today, with a prodigious output that ranges from market-moving timing wins for Refinitiv to precision reporting on complex subjects for legal professionals.
And in Best Use of Social Media, a series of Instagram Lives won for engaging users on stories from the Capital Hill riots to Covid in India.
Thomas Suen was named Video Journalist of the Year for his strong multimedia coverage throughout 2021, from COVID in Wuhan to the floods in Zhengzhou.
Finally, in the editing categories, Greg Roumeliotis was named Editor of the Year for playing a crucial role in some of the biggest stories across the business file, from GameStop to the Exxon proxy fight, as well as his role running Sustainable Business coverage. And Janet Lawrence was named Desk Editor of the Year for expertly bringing together assets across photos, video, text, graphics and more.
