Winners

Mirjana Rakela

Third Prize

Mirjana Rakela has been working at Radio Free Europe/radio Liberty since 1995 and she currently occupies the position of senior editor in the South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service. She fell in love with radio journalism long time ago in Dubrovnik, the city in Croatia. Before joining RFERL She reached her peak in Radio Zagreb.Graduated at the Zagreb University, in the last century.

Czech Republic

Nationality
Croatian
Title of the article
Child warriors, manipulation without borders
Name of media
Radio Free Europe
Narcis Misanovic is one of the hundreds of children who took part in the 1991-1995 Balkan wars. The first part of the documentary is about local child soldiers, while the second part looks at the broader context. The documentary sends a strong message to the existing army units and commanders in the region that children should never be used in any armed conflict. It gives a voice to former child soldiers, now young adults, who reflect upon their experience. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits engaging minors in war operations. However, despite international conventions, nearly 300 thousand children are currently involved in 33 international conflicts. Mirjana Rakela talks to experts and RFE journalists who have covered conflicts from the South Caucasus to Afghanistan and witnessed the use of minors in war zones.

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Pierre Guyot

Second Prize

Over the last ten years, Pierre Guyot has produced numerous documentaries throughout the world. Amongst others, he has worked as creative writer for the weekly general information programme “60 Minutos” of the Public Broadcast Service in Timor Oriental, as editor in chief of Radio Okapi in DR Congo, as columnist at RTL, chief of release at BFM, reporter at Europe 1, and as freelance correspondent in North Africa for France Inter, France Radio, Radio Suisse Romande, RSI, BBC, France 2 and CNN.

Belgium

Nationality
French
Title of the article
Radio Okapi, Radio for life
Name of media
RTBF
Rwanda, April 1994: 800 000 Tutsis were slaughtered by Hutus in a matter of a few weeks by . Everyday, Radio Mille Collines broadcasted propaganda encouraging these massacres. Its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, also suffers from the horrors of civil war. Radio Okapi was born there in reaction to what Radio Mille Collines was and shows that today, in conflict areas, where propaganda is a weapon of war, credible and neutral information can be an instrument for peace. "Radio Okapi, radio de la vie" is a documentary that shows images never seen of the genocide in Rwanda and proves that an informative medium can promote democracy. Most of all, it demonstrates the bravery and talent of Radio Okapi journalists, some of whose determination has cost them their lives.

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Angela Robson

First Prize

In her award-winning article, Angela Robson writes about Sierra Leone’s lost children and how they came to be murderers, rapists, butchers and above all victims in their country’s brutal civil war. She traces the effects of their trauma and looks at the present lives of these former combatants. She follows Dabo Seidu, who now runs a motorcycle taxi business and Boga Slim who has become a rapper (and claims he survived the war by rapping to entertain the troops on the front line). Although Sierra Leone is now at peace, the conditions of the war – and the potential for renewed conflict – remain.

United Kingdom

Title of the article
Sierra Leone: Revenge and Reconciliation
Name of media
Le Monde Diplomatique
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