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Gary Knight began his photography career in the late 1980’s photographing the wars in Cambodia and Burma. He was a contract photographer for Newsweek in the 1990’s and 2000’s during which time he photographed the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia, Congo and Israel Palestine.

Gary is co-founder and director of the VII Photo Agency. He is also the co-director of the VII Foundation and director and founder of the VII Academy. Gary is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Frontline Club, London; co-founder of The GroundTruth Project, Boston; founding director of the Program for Narrative & Documentary Practice at the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University; twice chair and president of the World Press Photo Award; was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2009; and a Logan Non Fiction Fellow at the Carey Institute in 2017.

« It is a great privilege to be invited to Chair the jury of the Bayeux Award for war correspondents this year and to honour the men and women who file dispatches and images from fields of conflict. It is especially poignant to do this at a time when our media are increasingly under attack by politicians and governments – even in countries where a free press is enshrined in the constitution. War reporting is a vital and essential function of journalism. It is critical to civil society, to our sense of justice and accountability and to basic human rights.
As the late Marie Colvin said in 2010, two years before she was killed in Homs: “The public have a right to know what our government, and our armed forces, are doing in our name. Our mission is to speak the truth to power. We send home that first rough draft of history. We can and do make a difference in exposing the horrors of war and especially the atrocities that befall civilians”. »

Gary Knight

Caption: Palestinian Saber al-Ashkar, 29, hurls rocks during clashes with Israeli forces along the border with the Gaza strip, east of Gaza City, on May 11, 2018, as Palestinians demonstrate for the right to return to their historic homeland in what is now Israel.

Mahmud Hams
Mahmud Hams, 38, holds a degree from the Islamic University of Gaza in journalism and information. He joined Agence France-Presse in 2003 and covers day-to-day current affairs in the Gaza Strip and occasionally in Libya and Egypt. He has received many international awards including the Bayeux award in 2007 and 2018.

© Bayeux Award photo 2018 – Mahmud Hams / AFP

As partners of the Bayeux award the HCR and Ouest-France will be addressing school students and inviting them to meet refugees who will talk about their experiences of exile and the importance of international protection for those fleeing from war and persecution. In this age of instantaneous information, the HCR and Ouest-France aim to give young people a different understanding of the position of refugees in France and around the world.

While it is obvious that research and information-sharing are essential, the safety of journalists on assignment has to be both the primary concern and the starting point in the editorial process. Because the journalist is the principal player in his or her own safety, the Manoir provides specific training and methodologies given by journalists to journalists, and brings in leading experts in the fields of health, emergency rescue and psychology. The effects of weapons, the dangers of mines and orientation skills are also taught by expert practitioners who are experienced in training news professionals.

By the end of the training course, the journalist situated in a danger zone is able to assess risks more accurately, to understand critical situations and to react more adroitly to accidents in the field.

With over a century of existence and by virtue of its values and commitment, supporting photojournalists is part of Nikon’s DNA. In partnership with the Manoir, Nikon wants to support talented young photojournalists in the exercise of their profession by giving them the best possible training.

© GUILLAUME LOUYOT – FRANCE MEDIAS MONDE

This year, Nikon is joining forces with the Manoir Centre, which was set up in 2014 by France Médias Monde to provide training for journalists working in dangerous zones. In association with INA (the French national audiovisual archive) and with the support of Reporters Without Borders, the Manoir will soon have trained almost 300 journalists from a variety of backgrounds. The training course was designed for journalists working for France Médias Monde, but is open to all media and is training journalists from Le Monde newspaper, Arte, Canal + and the French public television channels, among others. The training provided by the Manoir is now recognised as the reference standard in its field.

While it is obvious that research and information-sharing are essential, the safety of journalists on assignment has to be both the primary concern and the starting point in the editorial process. Because the journalist is the principal player in his or her own safety, the Manoir provides specific training and methodologies given by journalists to journalists, and brings in leading experts in the fields of health, emergency rescue and psychology. The effects of weapons, the dangers of mines and orientation skills are also taught by expert practitioners who are experienced in training news professionals.

By the end of the training course, the journalist situated in a danger zone is able to assess risks more accurately, to understand critical situations and to react more adroitly to accidents in the field.

With over a century of existence and by virtue of its values and commitment, supporting photojournalists is part of Nikon’s DNA. In partnership with the Manoir, Nikon wants to support talented young photojournalists in the exercise of their profession by giving them the best possible training.

Come and meet us at the Prix Bayeux Calvados and talk to our teams.

Beginning in 1983 as an entry-level assistant on the international assignment desk at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, Amanpour rose through the organization becoming a reporter at the New York bureau, and later, the network’s leading international correspondent.

Amanpour’s fearless and uncompromising approach made her popular with audiences, and a force to be reckoned with by global influencers — in 1996, Newsweek said that her reporting from conflict hotspots in the Gulf and the Balkans had helped make CNN ‘must-see TV for world leaders’.

From the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 American-led invasion, Amanpour has documented the bloody violence which has marked Iraq’s recent history. In 2004, she also reported exclusively from the courtroom at the trial of Saddam Hussein, where the former dictator, disheveled and in chains, was eventually sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.

On the ground during the siege of Sarajevo, Amanpour exposed the brutality of the Bosnian War, reporting on the daily tragedy of life for civilians in the city. She was outspoken, calling out the human rights abuses, massacres and genocide committed against the Bosnian Moslems, later saying “There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice.”

In 2009 “Amanpour” was launched, and the primetime interview program has seen Amanpour speak to a raft of leaders and decision makers on the issues affecting the world today.

Throughout her time at CNN Amanpour has secured exclusive interviews with global power players. In the wake of the September 11 attacks she was the first international correspondent to interview British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. During the height of the Arab Spring she conducted an Emmy-winning interview, the last, with Libya’s former leader ‘Colonel’ Moammar Gadhafi, she was also the last journalist to interview Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak just before he was deposed.

Following his landslide election victory, Amanpour spoke exclusively to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, eliciting from him acknowledgement of the occurrence of the Holocaust. She was the first journalist to interview Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff following her country’s shocking defeat in the 2014 World Cup semi-final. She also had the rare opportunity to sit down with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, talking to him about the widespread violent demonstrations in his country.

In January 2014, Amanpour also exclusively broke the news of a dossier of testimony and photographs which alleged to show systematic torture of prisoners by government forces in Syria, welcoming a panel of war crimes experts who attested to the veracity of the shocking allegations. It was with this evidence that she later confronted Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev — challenging him to justify his government’s support for the Assad regime.

She has reported from the aftermath of many humanitarian crises including the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2011 Japanese tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina, where she visited a community center which had been converted to a makeshift morgue for victims of the storm.

In addition to her work as an anchor and reporter, Amanpour is an active rights campaigner. A board member of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Centre for Public Integrity and the International Women’s Media Foundation, she has used her profile to raise awareness of key global issues and journalists’ rights. She has interviewed educational rights activist Malala Yousafzai for CNN on several occasions — bringing focus to her courage and international advocacy work. In May 2014 she used an appearance on BBC television to raise awareness of the plight of the 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram – asking British Prime Minister David Cameron to join the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

Amanpour has earned every major television journalism award including eleven News and Documentary Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, two George Polk Awards, three duPont-Columbia Awards and the Courage in Journalism Award. She has received nine honorary degrees, has been named a CBE and was this year inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame. She is an honorary citizen of Sarajevo and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of the Press and the Safety of Journalists.

Amanpour graduated summa cum laude from the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

The report must have been made between 1 June 2017 and 31 May 2018. A €7,000 prize is awarded in each category.

The reports must be submitted to the following address by 8 June 2018:
Bayeux Award for War Correspondents – Hôtel de Ville – 19, rue laitière – BP 21215 – 14402 Bayeux Cedex or info@prixbayeux.org

The categories of media represented are: radio – photography – television (short and long formats) – written press and the young reporter prize (photo this year).

Ten prizes are awarded

Regulations

• The Young Reporter’s Award: in 2018: the category is photo. Since there is a different category according to the years, the presented story must have been realized between 1 June 2016 and 31 May 2018.

• Written press category: the application must be made up of an article or a series of one to five articles on the same subject.

• Television category: the length of the report must be between 1 minute 30 seconds and 6 minutes. The report submitted must be identical to the broadcast piece.

• Grand format television category: the length of the report must be between 6 and 30 minutes. The report submitted must be identical to the broadcast piece.

• Radio category: the length of the report must be between 1 minute and 6 minutes. The report submitted must be identical to the broadcast piece.

• Photo category: The application comprises a report made up of 8 to 15 photos.