Testimonies of wars, stories of conflicts, or portraits of society ... Every year since 1933 (with an interruption between 1940 and 1945), the Albert-London Prize for the written press has rewarded the work of a young person. field journalist.
"Our job is not to please, nor to do harm, it is to carry the feather in the wound".
This is how Albert Londres expresses his vision of journalism.
The famous reporter, born in 1884, has traveled all over the world.
From the Cayenne penal colony in the Belgian Congo, where he describes the working conditions of slaves, his reports establish his notoriety.
Much more than a source of inspiration, he became a master of field journalism.
After his death and to perpetuate his memory, his daughter, Florise Martinet-Londres, created, in 1933, the Albert Londres prize.
Since then, this prize has been awarded each year to the best major reporter in the written press.
Since 1985, the prize has also been included in the Albert Londres prize for audiovisual documentaries and, since 2017, in the Albert Londres prize for books.
Since 1933, 84 journalists have received the most prestigious award in the profession.
The year 1995 marks an exception as the prize was awarded collectively to members of the AFP Moscow office for coverage of the war in Chechnya.
14 women awarded
The 2021 edition distinguishes Caroline Hayek, a Franco-Lebanese reporter, for her series of reports in Lebanon and particularly on Beirut after the explosion of August 4, 2021. Since the creation of the Albert-Londres Prize, 14 women have been awarded for the written press, ie 15% of the winners. It was first awarded to a woman in 1950. Alix d'Unienville, a former resistance fighter who became a flight attendant, was awarded for her travel accounts. It will be necessary to wait until 1982 to see the reward once again awarded to a woman and it will be Christine Clerc. The old large feather of Figaro was crowned in 1982 for his book
The happiness of being French
published by Grasset.
The headlines of the national press carve out the lion's share.
They total the most distinctions with the Figaro in the lead which has 16 winners followed by the World with 13 winners.
From Indochina in 1947 to the description of Syrian hell in 2020, passing through the Suez crisis in 1949, the Cuban political regime in the 1960s, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the war in Chechnya, the average conflicts -orientals…, each year the Albert-Londres Prize distinguishes stories from all over the world which, over the years, reflect the places where history is being written.
War and armed conflict are very frequently at the heart of the subjects of major field reports.
The winners are rewarded for their duty to inform despite the risks.