The Impartial Reporter’s long-running investigation into historical child sexual abuse in Fermanagh has been shortlisted for a prestigious award at the Amnesty Media Awards 2020, it has been announced.

The series of articles by journalist and deputy editor Rodney Edwards last year shone a spotlight on allegations of sexual abuse across this county over many decades and sparked a major investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland leading to a number of arrests. That live investigation is ongoing with more arrests expected in the coming months.

Only two media organisations from Northern Ireland have made it to the final; The Impartial Reporter and BBC Spotlight for its groundbreaking series on the Troubles.

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at an awards ceremony at BFI Southbank in central London on Wednesday, April 22, hosted by television presenter, journalist and broadcaster, Naga Munchetty.

The prestigious set of awards is now in its 28th year. The 11 award categories celebrate excellence in human rights journalism from the past year and applaud the courage and determination of journalists and editors who sometimes put their lives on the line to report on vital human rights issues.

The judging panels were made up of high-profile UK journalists and representatives from Amnesty.  

In a statement, Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland programme director of Amnesty International, said: “Human rights journalism is about exposing wrongdoing, standing up for the victim and holding the powerful to account. That is why Amnesty International seeks to honour the work of reporters doing this crucial work.

“Northern Ireland is very fortunate to have some of the best in the business.

“This year, the BBC NI Spotlight team and the Impartial Reporter’s Rodney Edwards, are well-deserved finalists in the prestigious Amnesty Media Awards. We want to thank them for their dogged pursuit of the truth and wish them all the best for next month’s Awards ceremony in London.”

Amnesty Media Awards 2020: Finalists

Investigations

  • The Bureau of Investigative Journalism - One Bomb.11 Children Killed. And the evidence that led to the US
  • Hardcash Productions for ITV - Undercover: Inside China’s Digital Gulag
  • The Guardian - Cancer Town
  • BBC Four - Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History

Regional Media

  • HuffPost UK and The Ferret - Just Surviving: A Decade Of Austerity In Scotland
  • Impartial Reporter - Fermanagh Historical Child Sexual Abuse
  • ITV Borders - Syrian Stories
  • Glasgow Evening Times - Glasgow’s Homelessness Crisis

News (Written Word)

  • Andy Lines, Daily Mirror - Famine in the Yemen
  • Ian Birrell, The Mail on Sunday - Inside China’s Concentration Camps
  • Annie Kelly, The Guardian - Rape and abuse: the price of a job in Spain’s strawberry industry?
  • Sophia Yan, The Daily Telegraph - ‘I didn’t think I would ever be let out’: How China tortured a UK consulate worker over Britain’s role in Hong Kong

Features

  • Josie Ensor, The Sunday Telegraph – 'She'll never know she had a mother who loved her' - Yazidi women forced to abandon their babies born to Isil
  • Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Guardian - ‘I’ve seen death in this city, but nothing as sad as this’: how a ferry disaster exposed the corruption devastating Iraq
  • Bethan McKernan, The Guardian - 'Now it's just ghosts': Yemenis living under the shadow of death by airstrike
  • Christina Lamb, The Sunday Times Magazine - The man they call doctor miracle

Documentaries

  • BBC Arabic - Iraq: State of Mind
  • Sandpaper Films for BBC Four - The Trial of Ratko Mladić
  • Channel 4 News/ITN Productions - For Sama
  • Hardcash Productions for ITV - Exposure - Undercover: Inside China’s Digital Gulag

Digital Innovation

  • Al Jazeera English - All Hail the Algorithm
  • Thomson Reuters Foundation - Stonewall 50
  • The Bureau of Investigative Journalism - LockedOut: How Britain keeps people homeless
  • BBC World Service - El Helicoide; From shopping mall to torture prison

Gaby Rado

  • Bethan McKernan - The Guardian   
  • Sarah Newey - The Telegraph
  • Sue-Lin Wong - The Financial Times
  • Sahar Zand - BBC, Channel 4’s ‘Unreported World’

Student Journalist

  • Freddie Hayward - University of Oxford
  • Kenneth Sanchez - University of Kent  
  • Sam Doak - University of Glasgow
  • Michelle Woods - Cardonald College

Photojournalist

  • Tariq Zaidi - The Guardian, El Salvador: A country ruled by gangs
  • Bruno Fert - Granta Magazine, Refuge
  • Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer - The Guardian, ‘He didn’t destroy me. We carry on. He lost.’: survivors of terror attacks look back
  • Tommy Trenchard - The Sunday Times, After the Storm

Radio & Podcasts

  • BBC World Service/ BBC Current Affairs - Assignment: The Undercover Migrant
  • File on 4, BBC Radio 4 - Sex Offenders Fleeing Abroad
  • BBC Radio 5 Live - Modern Day Slavery - Sanu
  • Today in Focus (The Guardian) - Growing up with Gangs/ Abandoned at Sea

News Broadcast

  • BBC News - Children of War
  • BBC News - Uigher Families Separated
  • Sky News - Idlib War Crimes
  • BBC News Arabic - Idlib ‘double tap’ air strike Russia says never was