Reuters names its Journalist of the Year winners

Reuters celebrated the extraordinary work and dedication of its journalists at its annual Journalists of the Year Awards, which recognized the best of Reuters journalism from 2023.

The ceremony celebrated individuals and teams across 14 categories. The program included reflections from Reuters journalists on delivering their award-winning coverage from all corners of the globe, while remaining true to the Trust Principles of independence, integrity and freedom from bias.

The team covering the Israel-Hamas war, which provided comprehensive coverage under extraordinary circumstances, including exclusives, insights, visuals, graphics and agenda-setting special reports, from Gaza to Jerusalem and to Lebanon, Egypt, Washington and beyond won in the Story of the Year category.

Photo of the Year, selected by a vote of Thomson Reuters employees, was awarded to Mohammed Salem for his image of a Palestinian woman embracing the body of her 5-year-old niece, who was killed in an Israeli strike. Salem was also awarded the Photojournalist of the Year Award for his remarkable work capturing the human stories behind the Israel-Hamas war and providing the world with an intimate view of what this conflict has meant to the civilian population of Gaza.

The Video Journalist of the Year Award went to Suhaib Salem for expertly leading the visuals team in Gaza in the most challenging of circumstances, with impeccable planning, creativity and security expertise.

In the Scoop of the Year category, photos of the Chinese spy balloon being shot down by the U.S. was awarded the top prize. The team quickly mobilized to deliver the first images of the moment the balloon was shot down, which were used on front pages and broadcasts around the world.

Adolfo Arranz won the Graphic Journalist of the Year Award for his exceptional work in explanatory illustration. Adolfo’s graphical storytelling brings complex concepts to life and makes emotional connections with our readers.

The Commentary of the Year Award went to Breakingviews’ Yawen Chen, for her series of timely and perceptive columns exploring the consequences of China’s debt problems and slowing growth, as well as unpicking its at-times surprising impact on global energy and commodities markets.

There were two winners in the Beat Coverage of the Year category. First, The Musk Industrial Complex series was recognized for uncovering systemic harms to consumers, workers and lab animals at Elon Musk’s companies. Where regulators had failed to police these companies, our stories sparked investigations in both the U.S. and Europe and calls for action from U.S. lawmakers. And second, a series of stories on new weight loss drugs won for exclusive, insightful coverage that showed how these powerful new drugs are changing both the healthcare business and medical practice, stories that were regularly among the most-read on any Reuters platform all year.

The Digital Audience Team was awarded the Production and Publishing Editor of the Year prize. The team worked tirelessly with newsroom reporters and editors to drive a deeper understanding and smarter use of SEO, to sharpen headlines, to build campaigns around large set-piece events, and to build communities via newsletters.

The winner of the Breaking News of the Year Award was the team covering former U.S. President Donald Trump’s legal woes. They were recognized for meticulously planned and executed coverage of Trump’s legal woes to deliver a competitive and compelling file.

The series, “Slaughter in Sudan,” won in the Enterprise Reporting of the Year category. The series of investigations exposed how the Sudanese civil war unleashed a murderous, racially charged campaign of ethnic cleansing by Arab forces against the Masalit people of West Darfur.

The Innovation of the Year Award went to the Reuters World News podcast, for creating a daily news podcast with a loyal and growing audience, as well as longer form audio storytelling capability at Reuters.

The Sub-Saharan Africa team received the Speed Win of the Year Award for exemplary hub-bureau integration that has driven the region’s speed performance and led to multiple market-moving timing wins, including the election of a new Nigerian president and his implementation of a shock economic doctrine, as well as debt restructurings in Ethiopia and Zambia and Angola’s decision to leave OPEC.

Finally, Jeffrey Dastin won Reporter of the Year for his investigations of Taser-maker Axon and his stellar coverage of generative AI that delivered agenda setting stories on Microsoft, Google and OpenAI.