This year’s “Lorenzo Natali” Prizes for journalism (named after the former Vice-President of the EU Executive) have been awarded by the European Commission. The aim of the event, now a fixed date on the calendar, is to commend not only European articles and reportage devoted to the cause of human rights and democratization. This year a short-list of fifteen finalists was selected, divided into categories representing the various regions of the world. The outright winner was Namini Wijedasa, with an article published by The Sunday Island (Sri Lanka) on the theme of child labour. The first of the African prizewinners was a native of Chad, Ahmad Zeidane Bichara, thanks to a piece of investigative journalism on so-called “training centres” for children and young mothers. The Colombian Marina Walzer Guevara won the Latin American category by presenting an article on child poverty. For the category “Arab World, Iran and Israel”, the first prize went to Anne Marie Jazzar El-Hage, of the Beirut daily L’Orient Le Jour, with an article on the plight of Lebanese prisoners detained in Syria. Lastly, the “Lorenzo Natali” 2005 for the Europe category was awarded to the British journalist of The Guardian Nick Paton Walsh.
