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Three journalists whose stories give a voice to people who are oppressed or marginalised have been chosen as the finalists for the 2024 Young Journalist of the Year Award.
Nearly 300 entered our competition held annually for journalists aged 30 and under with many showing extraordinary courage exposing criminal behaviour, covering war and conflict or documenting appalling working conditions.
The jury panel picked this year’s three finalists from a shortlist of 12. They are a woman journalist in Afghanistan who needs to remain anonymous to ensure her safety and two journalists from Pakistan, Somaiyah Hafeez and Aisha Farrukh.
The Afghan journalist reveals the brutality of life for women and girls living under the Taliban regime in her coverage for The Afghan Times which was founded by Afghan women journalists in exile. In this story she reveals how the Taliban is forcing the closure of women-only restaurants, one of the few remaining places where women are allowed to work and socialise.
“I am inspired by the incredible strength of Afghan women who, despite facing overwhelming oppression, continue to fight for their dignity and rights,” she says. “They risk their lives every day to keep their families alive, pursue education in secret, or speak out against injustice. Their resilience fuels my determination to keep working, even when I feel overwhelmed by fear and frustration.”
Freelance journalist Somaiyah Hafeez, who’s 24, spent a year researching a data-driven investigation into enforced disappearances in Balochistan province, Pakistan where there is an ongoing conflict between Baloch separatists and government. It was published by Kontinentalist, a data-driven storytelling studio based in Singapore. Somaiyah, who’s from Balochistan, says she became a journalist because there are so few from the region particularly women. She says it would be ‘a great injustice’ if their stories weren’t told.
“Being a finalist...is not only about my work being recognised,” she says. “But the struggle and resistance of the communities that I cover being recognised and amplified, which is ultimately why I became a journalist.”
Aisha Farrukh, who’s 28 and the head of content for The Centrum Media, an all-digital, independent news network in Pakistan, says her motivation comes from the people who tell her their stories and hope ‘that journalism can actually change their lives for the better’. Her documentary reveals the struggle of bonded labourers working in brick kilns in Pakistan including a 17-year-old boy whose kidney was removed without his consent to pay a debt his family owed. Aisha was motivated to ‘uncover injustice’ after the 2014 attack on a school in Peshawar by militants linked to the Taliban, which left 141 dead.
“I believe that journalism is not just reporting but creating a change through storytelling,” she says.
“From the outstanding field of entries we had this year it’s becoming clear that there are parts of the world where it’s becoming more and more dangerous to be a journalist,” says Deborah Kelly, director of training and communications at Thomson. “We have three very worthy finalists and the commitment they have shown to exposing wrongdoing no matter the obstacles they may face is remarkable.”
Now in its twelfth year, this prestigious, annual competition is run in partnership with the UK’s Foreign Press Association (FPA). It’s open to journalists aged 30 and under who are from countries with a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of less than USD 20,000. The winner of the 2024 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award will be announced at the FPA Media Awards on November 25th in London.