Bayeux (France) (AFP)

The 27th edition of the Bayeux War Correspondents Prize was marked by a report on civilians displaced from Syria, for Arte, awarded in large format television, and another on Uyghurs for the BBC, awarded in short format television.

The "best job" of any category is a report on the millions of Syrian civilians coming from former opposition strongholds and trapped in the Idlib region, in the northwest of the country, between the closed border and the regime's offensives. and his Russian ally, said the president of the international jury Ed Vulliamy, senior reporter for the Guardian and The Observer, interviewed by AFP.

"It is treated through the eyes of a Syrian journalist who returns to her country, and that of a Muslim woman," a humanitarian, said the journalist.

This Syrian reporter "speaks for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who do not know if they will one day return to their homes, see their homes again," he continued.

"In Idlib, there are four million civilians today," Suzanne Allant told AFP, who signed with Yamaan Khatib and Fadi Al-Halabi this report entitled "Syria, in the Idlib trap".

The jury was split equally between this report and "Yemen: a forced march" by Olivier Jobard (Magnéto Presse) for Arte / France24 which finally won the video image prize.

Ed Vuilliamy ruled, after consulting with big names in international reporting, and voted a second time for reporting in Idlib.

The other major report on this list is entitled "The Uyghur Families", by John Sudworth and Wang Xiping for the BBC.

He won the prize in short format television.

"It is a fantastic report, very expensive, carried out at the same time from Turkey, Kazakhstan and China. You have to see it, as long as such reports are financed," Ed Vulliamy told AFP.

- "eradication of identity" -

"This deals with one of the major subjects of our century, with environmental damage, namely the eradication of indigenous populations. Here the eradication by China of the identity of children (Uyghur) replaced by a repulsive monocultural, Marxist-Leninist identity, "he continues.

For their report, the journalists put children in contact by telephone with their parents, from whom they had been separated.

It shows "a China which is the worst of capitalism and the worst of communism and which we would not have allowed to do under the cold war. But today it is the money that counts and nothing is done" , laments Ed Vulliamy.

In radio, the prize goes to Sonia Ghezali and Wahlah Shahzaïb of RFI for "Afghanistan: after the attack on the MSF maternity hospital".

"It's a wonderful report with a real feeling of being there and a real atmospheric soundtrack," said Ed Vulliamy.

In photo, the international jury prize goes to "The longer war", a report on the Taliban in Afghanistan by Lorenzo Tugnoli, of the Italian agency Contrasto, for the Washington Post.

“Having access to the Taliban is incredibly difficult. And aesthetically” the report evokes Caravaggio, said the British reporter.

In the written press, the prize is awarded to Allan Kaval, from Le Monde, for "In northeastern Syria, the slow death of jihadist prisoners".

This report also won the West-France written press award.

The Audience Award went to AFP's Anthony Wallace for a photo report titled "Hong Kong, a People's Revolt".

This report also won the second prize from the international jury.

The young reporter award goes to Anas Alkharboutli of DPA for "The war in Syria".

In total, fifty reports were in competition.

The other highlight of this 27th edition was, according to Ed Vulliamy, the tribute paid Thursday to the Bayeux War Reporters Memorial by AFP's director of photography, Marielle Eudes, to the Yemeni videographer who collaborated with the Agency, Nabil Hasan al-Quaety, 34 years old.

This father of young children was killed in June.

© 2020 AFP