The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, named for the war correspondent, Martha Gellhorn, was established in 1999 by the Martha Gellhorn Trust. The Trust is a UK-registered charity. The award is founded on the following principles:

The award will be for the kind of reporting that distinguished Martha: in her own words "the view from the ground". This is essentially a human story that penetrates the established version of events and illuminates an urgent issue buried by prevailing fashions of what makes
news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to event ...
. We would expect the winner to tell an unpalatable truth, validated by powerful facts, that exposes establishment conduct and its propaganda, or "official drivel", as Martha called it. The subjects can be based in this country or abroad.

The prize is awarded annually to

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

s writing in English whose work has appeared in print or in a reputable internet publication.

Alexander Matthews Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

was the chair of the Martha Gellhorn Trust Prize Committee in 2011. According to its website, the prize committee includes

James Fox William Fox (born 19 May 1939), known professionally as James Fox, is an English actor. He appeared in several notable films of the 1960s and early 1970s, including '' King Rat'', '' The Servant'', ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and ''Performan ...

, Jeremy Harding, Cynthia Kee, Sandy Matthews, Shirlee Matthews and

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilger ...

Previous winners

*1999: Nick Davies (''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'') *2000: Jeremy Harding (''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review o ...

'') *2001: Geoffrey Lean (''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'') *2002:

Robert Fisk Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stan ...

(''

'') *2003:

Chris McGreal Chris McGreal is a reporter for ''The Guardian''. He is the author of ''American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts'' published by Public Affairs in the US and Guardian Faber in the UK. Career McGreal is a foreign correspondent for ''Th ...

(''

'') *2004: Patrick Cockburn (''

'') *2005:

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (Arabic: غيث عبدالأحد, born 1975) is an Iraqi journalist who began working after the U.S. invasion. Abdul-Ahad has written for ''The Guardian'' and ''The Washington Post'' and published photographs in ''The New York T ...

(''

''); Jonathan Steele (''

'') received a special award for his distinguished career as a reporter. *2006: Hala Jaber (''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'') and Michael Tierney (''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'') *2007: *2008: Dahr Jamail (unembedded,

Inter Press Service Inter Press Service (IPS) is a global news agency headquartered in Rome, Italy. Its main focus is news and analysis about social, political, civil, and economic subjects as it relates to the Global South, civil society and globalization. His ...

, IPS) and Mohammed Omer (unembedded, Inter Press Service, IPS) *2009:

Ian Cobain Ian Cobain (born 1960) is a British journalist. Cobain is best known for his investigative journalism into human rights abuses committed by the British government post-9/11, the secrecy surrounding the British state and the legacy of the Norther ...

(''

'') for the prize, and

Marie Colvin Marie Catherine Colvin (January 12, 1956 – February 22, 2012) was an American journalist who worked as a foreign affairs correspondent for the British newspaper '' The Sunday Times'' from 1985 until her death. She died while covering the siege ...

(''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'') for the "Martha Gellhorn Special Award for Journalism" *2010:

Johann Hari Johann Eduard Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British-Swiss writer and journalist who has written for ''The Independent'' and ''The Huffington Post''. In 2011, Hari was suspended from ''The Independent'' and later resigned, after admitting to ...

(''

'') *2011:

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army int ...

(

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

) for the prize, and

Umar Cheema Umar Cheema ( ur, ) is an investigative reporter for the Pakistani newspaper '' The News''. In 2008, he won a Daniel Pearl Journalism Fellowship, becoming the first Pearl fellow to work at '' The New York Times''. He also attended London School ...

, Charles Clover, and Jonathan Cook for the "Martha Gellhorn Special Award for Journalism" *2012: Gareth Porter (

, IPS) *2013: Chris Woods, Alice Ross and Jack Serle ( The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) *2014: Iona Craig (Freelance:

Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jaze ...

, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'') *2015: not awarded *2016: not awarded *2017: Robert Parry (Freelance: '' Consortium News'')

References

External links

* British journalism awards Awards established in 1999 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom {{journalism-stub