IBA Alumnus, Taha
Siddiqui, wins The Albert Londres Prize
The
Albert Londres Prize is the highest French journalism
award, named in honor of journalist Albert Londres who
is credited for having ‘invented’ investigative
journalism. It was first awarded in 1933 and is
considered the French equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.
This year, the award went to 30-year-old Pakistani
journalist and IBA Alumnus of 2006, Taha Siddiqui along
with his colleagues Julien Fouchet and Sylvain Lepetit
for their documentary, La guerre de la polio (The Polio
War) for France 24 a television channel based out of
Paris. Siddiqui is the first non-French speaking
journalist to have won this award.
Equipped with a management degree from IBA Karachi, Taha
did not opt for the comfortable and lucrative corporate
path but instead chose to tread the less predictable,
less paying job as a journalist. He started his career
from CNBC after which he moved to Geo. After working for
both local and international news agencies, he then
joined France24 in 2012. His articles have been
published in Dawn, The News, Express Tribune, New York
Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Daily Telegraph,
etc. to name a few.
On
receiving the accolade, Siddiqui expressed his
bittersweet feeling to DAWN News in these words "I felt
strange because I won the award in the same week that
the WHO announced putting restrictions on Pakistanis
travelling abroad, making it mandatory for them to get a
certification of vaccination,"
To view this prize-winning documentary, click on the
following links:
French version (original):
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x184ess_la-guerre-de-la-polio_webcam
English version:
http://www.france24.com/en/20121219-more-polio-aid-workers-shot-dead-in-Pakistan/
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