‘I Will Not Leave This Place’ by Merveille Kavira Luneghe, GPJ DRC
‘I Will Not Leave This Place,’ fondly known around the Global Press Journal (GPJ) newsroom simply as Kirumba, was a story decades in the making. Merveille Kavira Lungehe, one of our reporters in DRC, had been writing this story since the day she was born. Being able to publish her first-person narrative on growing up in the midst of the ongoing conflict in DRC was an honor. Many members of the team participated in the production of this story, but it was Merveille who poured her heart and soul into writing it. The story, combined with the groundbreaking drone footage shot by our team and the voiceovers provided by Merveille herself, transports readers to the tiny villages Merveille has known her entire life. It’s a story that could only be produced at GPJ.
Katie Myrick, GPJ Creative Director
Concocting Currency in Search of Prosperity by Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, GPJ Zimbabwe
Since 2016, the GPJ Zimbabwe team has provided thorough, comprehensive coverage of Zimbabwe’s crumbling economy. Our reporters have broken stories, spotted trends and analyzed the human impact of the country’s chaotic economic policies and politics. Their expertise and tenacity are on full display in this piece, the first-ever graphic novel produced by GPJ. In a matter of a few sentences they describe the politics, the inflation and the daily consequences that an endless stream of new currencies has had on local people. This unique piece, adeptly illustrated by GPJ’s Matt Haney, puts the country’s economic decay in perspective and compels readers to take a closer look.
Cristi Hegranes, Global Press CEO, GPJ Publisher
Data Discrepancies Anger Activists as Cases of Murdered and Missing Girls, Teens Rise by Marissa Revilla, GPJ Mexico
Marissa Revilla has been covering Chiapas for GPJ for over a decade. This piece showcases both her powerful photography and her prose as she captures the harrowing story of a mother’s loss with the utmost dignity. And then she goes further to reveal that poor record-keeping and mismanaged investigations make it nearly impossible to get data on the number of missing and murdered women in Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state. Marissa gained access to a diverse array of voices by building trust in a way only a local reporter can. Reading this story gave me pause, as all great journalism should, and it made me reflect on a similar crisis that is ongoing in Canada.
Laxmi Parthasarathy, Global Press Chief Operating Officer
A Land of Small Wars: Life on the Line of Control by Raihana Maqbool, GPJ Indian-administered Kashmir
Reporting from — let alone living in — a contested region is not easy. Nevertheless, this year Raihana Maqbool filed exceptional stories from the frontlines of Indian-administered Kashmir, one of the world’s most complicated conflicts.
This story contains searing testimony from a family who lives near the Line of Control — a sort-of border in an area where both India and Pakistan stake a claim. In addition to powerful human reporting, thid story also contains powerful research pulled from the governments of both India and Pakistan, which highlights the difference between the two governments’ data. Ultimately, the story is an example of what GPJ does best — leveraging local reporters’ access to tell impactful stories of communities often neglected or improperly covered by legacy media.
Bennett Hanson, GPJ Researcher
When the U.S. Pulls the Funding Plug, How Do Reproductive Health Providers Proceed?
This story is a brilliant example of GPJ’s primary expertise: illuminating the local consequence of global trends. Combining powerful reporting from GPJ teams in four different countries, this story offers insight and context about a global topic often covered from purely political perspectives. In this piece, GPJ reporters demonstrate their ability to curate evidence of impact from the communities that they cover.
Rachel Jones, GPJ Story Editor
‘Energy, Passion and Patience:’ What It Takes To Reunite Adopted Children With Their Birth Parents in Haiti by Anne Myriam Bolivar, GPJ Haiti
As an adopted child, stories about adoption always pique my interest. Being adopted is a deeply personal experience, so being privy to this mother-daughter journey to reunite meant so much to me. I loved both the article, and the emotional video that accompanied it, because it provided a window into adoption, a subject that most people don’t fully understand.
Lucia Priselac, Newsroom Manager
Fake and Missing Drugs ‘Frustrate Government’s Effort’ To Combat Malaria in Uganda by Apophia Agiresaasi, Patricia Lindrio and Nakisanze Segawa, GPJ Uganda
This story is consequence-driven journalism at its finest. What started as an observation that drugs used to treat malaria were increasingly hard to access at health facilities in Uganda, turned into a data-rich, investigative story that not only explained why the drugs are not available but also what impact that has had on the people who need them the most. Apophia, Patricia and Nakisanze, three senior members of the GPJ Uganda team, worked tirelessly to get to the bottom of the issue. In the end, they produced a story that proves that things are not always as they seem.
Christina Colón, GPJ Editor
Homes and Coffee Fields Abandoned as Violence Continues in Southern Mexico by Marissa Revilla, GPJ Mexico
Marissa Revilla’s story about ongoing violence in Chiapas paired extraordinary reporting with intimate community photography. Marissa has covered this community for years, which has allowed her to build trust with the local people. As a result, she was able to take powerful photos that show the homes, faces and other details of this community that have rarely been photographed before.
Austin Bachand, GPJ Visuals Editor