The Coalition For Women In Journalism is thrilled to announce the CFWIJ Kathy Gannon Legacy Award to celebrate a veteran correspondent who broke many barriers in our industry while covering some of the most vital and globally critical stories of her time with deep compassion and integrity. This award honors distinguished women journalists who continue doing that by breaking new barriers that come with journalism today, with great conscientiousness and bravery. This award also celebrates one of our greatest values, camaraderie and spirit of peer-support, which our awardees demonstrate in their work ethic and initiatives.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a New York based global peer-support and press freedom advocacy organization.
The work of women, non-binary and minority journalists is critical to our times. These journalists are exposing the truth and often in a tumultuous world, are bringing forth opportunities for justice, equity and accountability with gallant, undaunted journalism.
But this journalism often comes at a cost, particularly for women and minority journalists. Each year, hundreds of women journalists face abuse, harassment, imprisonment, and even murder for doing their job. The Coalition For Women In Journalism monitors and documents any violation that takes place against any female or non binary journalist around the world. It is our pursuit to account for every single violation, because information brings a better understanding of our world, our democracies and the state of humanity.
Since 2019, the CFWIJ has supported and advocated for more than 2,000 women journalists who have encountered such circumstances across 128 countries.
Our work has led to global impact in press freedom and safety for women and non-binary journalists, including legal support for journalists behind bars that has led to releases from jail, and government-stakeholder advocacy that has helped journalism protection laws in several countries. The CFWIJ Emergency Relief work includes advocacy support and a survival fund that helps women journalists from the most vulnerable backgrounds. CFWIJ's work has led to more than 600 evacuations, relocations, legal support and mental health therapy for women and LGBTQ journalists from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iran, Mexico, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and Turkey. A link to our annual Report 2022.
At the CFWIJ our mission is to foster and support camaraderie between journalists around the globe so they can continue to take on the daunting task of truth telling in a safe and supportive environment. You can join us in this mission and help elevate change-driven courageous journalism.
Reach out to explore how you can help. You can also join us through Volunteer work or Donations.
“With this award the CFWIJ is embarking on extending our devotion to highlight the achievements of women journalists who find unique ways to cover impossible stories, and often amidst insurmountable challenges. This award celebrates the two things that must go hand in hand for women and minorities today; good journalism and a sense of camaraderie to one's community. We cannot be prouder to celebrate a legend of our times, the great Kathy Gannon, who had an incredible career as one of the first female war correspondents in what used to be a male-dominated environment, while also upheld the values of a mentor and opened doors for other women journalists. Since our inception, Kathy has mentored many journalists in our global mentorship and support networks from diverse backgrounds. That is why we at the CFWIJ are so proud to launch this award in her name. In these evolving times in journalism, we want to encourage journalists to remember that it is more than grit that makes journalism one of the most remarkable careers in human life, and that opening doors for each other makes us achieve things that are bigger than ourselves. That is my vision with this award and I am grateful to everyone who has been supportive in making this work possible.”
-Kiran Nazish, Founding Director of the Coalition For Women In Journalism
Celebrating the legendary Kathy Gannon who spent decades covering Afghanistan and Pakistan, from the cold war to the US pullout in 2021, with intrepid curiosity and compassion. Since the inception of the Coalition For Women In Journalism, Kathy Gannon has been a great advisor, mentor and ally to countless women journalists we at the CFWIJ have mentored and advocated for. This award is also to celebrate that sense of camaraderie and community for women in journalism.
We are proud to announce that the winners are Zahra Nader, Afghan-Canadian journalist and founder of Zan Times and Joanna Chiu, Toronto Star international affairs journalist and chair of NuVoices.
The inaugural award goes to these two outstanding journalists who are not only worthy winners of this recognition, but are marking their own legacy. Both of these journalists have been selected because in addition to their intrepid courageous reporting from difficult countries, their work demonstrates a sense of duty and a devotion to community.
Zahra Nader
Afghanistan-Canada
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Zahra Nader is an Afghan-Canadian journalist and editor-in-chief of Zan Times, a newly launched non-profit newsroom. Zan Times reports on human rights violations in Afghanistan, mainly focusing on women, the LGBTQ community, and environmental issues. Born in Afghanistan, she is from the Hazara community, an ethnic group that faces marginalization and violence. She began her journalism career in Kabul in 2011, working for prominent global news outlets including the New York Times. In 2017, she moved to Canada to pursue higher education.
On 20 October, 2022, Zahra briefed the UN Security Council during the Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security. While at the UN, she spoke with UN Women about the Taliban, human rights in Afghanistan, and why women’s representation—in peacebuilding, in journalism and everywhere else—matters. Zahra Nader, is an exceptional, driving force for positive change on a global scale.
CFWIJ selected Zahra Nader for her bravery, and commitment to journalism in the face of fear and terror by the Taliban. As Kabul fell, the CFWIJ got involved in airlifting Afghan journalists, and relocating many in safe houses. We witnessed Zahra at the time, who while being thousands of miles away in Canada herself coordinated to get her family to safety in Pakistan. While she was dealing with such personal trauma and worries for her family back home, she continued to tell the story of Afghan women in international outlets including TIME magazine.
We recognize Zahra as a mission driven journalist who is making the industry better with her work that illuminates dark corners that will otherwise be unseen. In addition to her reporting, we recognize her sense of camaraderie, as she opens opportunities for many brave Afghan reporters on the ground through ZanTimes.
Joanna Chiu
China-Canada
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Joanna Chiu is a senior journalist for the Toronto Star, and the author of China Unbound: A New World Disorder and an expert on China. She was previously based in different parts of Asia, including Beijing, specializing in coverage of Chinese politics, economy and legal affairs in the region. In Hong Kong, she reported for the South China Morning Post, The Economist magazine and The Associated Press. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and Newsweek. Chiu is a frequent contributor to CBC, BBC World, Al Jazeera, and NPR and has worked as a foreign correspondent for top news agencies including Agence France-Presse and Deutsche Presse-Agentur. In 2012, she won a Human Rights Press Award for her story on refugees in Hong Kong. China Unbound: A New World Disorder is her first book. In her coverage she tactfully bridges the gap between intricate local context and distant foreign glance at the story.
We recognize Joanna for her incredible capacity to make complex stories on an important region and country, accessible to readers globally. Often in her work Joanna has encountered high-risk situations, but she has continued to find creative ways of shedding light on the human rights abuses of China and the wide spillover it has on the regional and global community.
With this award, we recognize Joanna as a passionate connector with her work as chair of the NüVoices. An editorial collective that celebrates the creative and academic work of women working on the subject of China. As a journalist covering human rights and women’s issues in Greater China since 2012, Joanna Chiu has used her connections with countless talented female academics, journalists and writers producing insightful work on these subjects to help produce this platform called NüVoices. At CFWIJ we value camaraderie and Joanna's work is demonstrative of that.
We welcome our distinguished partners and allies Eileen Park Robertson and Xanthe Scharff joining us in honoring the winners. Here is what they have to say.
Praise for Zahra Nader
Xanthe Scharff
Xanthe Scharff is the co-founder and CEO of The Fuller Project, the global newsroom dedicated to groundbreaking reporting that catalyzes positive change for women.
The founder of two acclaimed nonprofit organizations and a gender expert, Scharff launched The Fuller Project from Turkey while reporting in Istanbul and on the Syrian border. She has built the project to be the go-to source for exclusive, in-depth global reporting about women that would otherwise be untold.
Scharff has led The Fuller Project through steady growth and oversees a staff that includes several dozen editors, reporters, contributors and senior business leaders. Under her leadership, The Fuller Project newsroom and communications team have won 24 industry awards and citations.
“Through brave and dogged reporting, and while supporting Afghan women and amplifying their voices, Zahra Nader has ensured that Afghan women are not buried in the annals of history but are front and center in journalism and on the cover of global newspapers and magazines. She has documented the lives, struggles and hopes of teachers, lawyers, executives, students, mothers and sisters as they fight for their basic human rights and their freedom to learn, work and contribute to society. Even as the international community has turned away, Zahra has made certain that Afghan women are not forgotten. Her remarkable contributions have influenced international coverage, informed wide audiences, and inspired those around her to keep a journalist focus in Afghanistan and on women suffering at the hands of abusive regimes around the world.”
— Xanthe Scharff, Cofounder and CEO, The Fuller Project
Praise for Joanna Chiu
Eileen Park Robertson
Eileen Park Robertson is an award-winning impact filmmaker and founder of Anecdotia, a production agency dedicated to racial, social, and climate justice storytelling. Most recently, she ran communications at the Office of the Mayor of Portland as Director of Communications, after more than a decade working as a reporter in the United States, South Korea, and around the world.
As the daughter of Korean immigrants who overcame poverty, domestic violence, and racialized trauma, she is an ambassador and advocate for racial justice, standing in solidarity with all marginalized communities, fighting for, educating, and calling for systemic change in culture, media, and government.
“In a crowded field of exceptional journalists, Joanna Chiu is in a league of her own. She repeatedly delivers ethical, meticulously researched stories with important context, nuance and precision, timely stories that inform a generation navigating unprecedented global crises.
Her brilliance resides in her ability to distill and contextualize some of the most complicated geopolitical stories of our time, with a deep understanding of centuries-old history.
Despite ongoing harassment, violence, and misogyny journalists of colour disproportionately face, she continues to press on with resilience, purpose, and unyielding dedication, her work has never been more critical for our times”
— Eileen Park Robertson, Impact filmmaker, journalist, racial justice advocate
We will be presenting the awards at the CJFE Gala. We would like to thank the Canadian Journalists For Free Expression for their remarkable allyship and for giving us a platform to share this award. We could not have asked for better partners. Special thanks to Carol Off, Michelle Shepard and everyone who made us feel at home in this partnership.
