Spanish reporter nabs top prize at Bern’s True Story Award
A man sits at a small wharf in Puerto Barros, Guatemala. This remote part of the Caribbean is featured in the 2022 True Story Award’s first prize-winning story.
Keystone / Rodrigo Abd
Journalists based in Mexico, Germany and the United States won prizes at this year’s edition of the True Story AwardExternal link, given in the Swiss capital on Friday night. They were selected from a pool of more than 1,100 stories submitted for awards worth a total of CHF60,000 ($60,000).
This content was published on
2 minutes
A Swiss-American journalist mainly covering education, migration and youth issues - plus the occasional story on cheese, given her roots in Switzerland and Wisconsin. She also produces podcasts and works on the social media team.
Jacobo Garcia, a Spanish reporter based in Mexico, won the first prize of CHF30,000 for his story “The Murky Waters of the Caribbean”, published in the Spanish newspaper El Pais two years ago. The story looks at a little-known part of the Caribbean Sea between southern Mexico and Belize through which drugs and migrants flow north.
“Jacobo Garcia went to an area that few other reporters have gone to and risked his life to tell a story about a grey area inhabited by people forced to live on the margins,” said jury member Jon Lee Anderson in announcing the award.
The award’s second prize, worth CHF20,000, went to German journalist Nina Schick for her personal essay called “Under the Cross”, published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s magazine in April 2020. It details her account of Catholic church abuses that led to her father’s suicide.
“This subtle, beautifully done story is moving yet disturbing, turning a personal story into a universal one,” said jury member Nuruddin Farah of Schick’s piece.
The third-place prize, worth CHF10,000, went to American journalist Sarah Topol for her story “The Schoolteacher and the Genocide”External link, about a Rohingya schoolteacher in Myanmar. It was published in the New York Times Magazine in 2019.
“This is a powerful and very personal account of a minority community, and how a schoolteacher tried to continue the memory and the presence of this community by telling the children their story and their narratives,” said jury member Xiaolu Guo.
The prize ceremony can be viewed in the video below. It is preceded by a discussion among jury members about practicing journalism in their respective countries. SWI swissinfo.ch was a media partner for the event.
Various leaders confirm participation at Ukraine peace conference
This content was published on
The presidents of Poland, Finland, and Latvia and the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium will be at the Swiss-hosted talks in mid-June.
This content was published on
In the winter season up to April 2024, railway and cable car operators ferried 3% more visitors compared to the previous winter, and 5% more than the five-year average.
Rhine flooding: Swiss to invest CHF1 billion with Austria
This content was published on
As part of an international agreement with Austria, the Swiss government wants to pump CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion) into flood protection measures along the Rhine over the next three decades.
Swiss government proposes CHF10 million UNRWA donation
This content was published on
After months of debate, Switzerland plans to give CHF10 million ($11 million) to the UN agency this year, rather than the CHF20 million initially foreseen.
Swiss study: insects mainly migrate at midday and dusk
This content was published on
A study led by the Swiss Ornithological Institute in canton Lucerne is helping to better understand the movement patterns of migratory insects.
Red Cross: 22 staff killed in Middle East since October
This content was published on
The Red Cross and Red Crescent network in Gaza and Israel has lost 22 staff members since last October, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) said on Wednesday.
Dortmund’s Kobel is first Swiss goalie in Champions League final
This content was published on
Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel has achieved history by becoming the first Swiss goalkeeper to reach a Champion’s League final.
University students in Switzerland join Gaza protest wave
This content was published on
Pro-Palestinian activists occupied university buildings in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich on Tuesday, widening the protest movement in the Alpine nation.
TradeXBank to resume full operations after Sberbank Switzerland taken off sanctions list
This content was published on
TradeXBank, the former Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank, will be able to resume its dollar-denominated activities from the second half of this year.
Geneva decides not to remove controversial memorials
This content was published on
The city of Geneva has presented an action plan regarding a series of controversial local statues and monuments of historical figures linked to racism, colonialism or slavery.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.