2025 RSF Prize laureates to be announced at RSF Festival in Paris on 15 November

The Press Freedom Awards will take place alongside films, debates, workshops, exhibitions, and performances as the RSF Festivalcelebrates four decades of defending press freedom, access to reliable information and the protection of those who make it possible. The ceremony will be hosted by RSF Editorial Director Anne Bocandé and pay tribute to these "information heroes," spotlighting their courageous, essential work.

This year's shortlist comprises 15 journalists, nine media outlets and five photojournalists from 18 countries. All have made significant contributions to the defence and promotion of press freedom worldwide.

Acclaimed actor and director Aïssa Maïga will present the Mohamed Maïga Prize for African Investigative Journalism. The prize, added in 2024, is overseen by RSF and the Mohamed Maïga Association and rewards the exemplary work of an African journalist on topics such as human rights, the environment, education and the right to information - issues dear to Aïssa Maïga's father, Malian investigative journalist Mohamed Maïga, who died in unclear circumstances in 1984.

The Courage Prize

The Courage Prize is awarded to journalists, media or NGOs who demonstrate courage in the practice, defence or promotion of journalism in a hostile environment and despite threats to their freedom or safety.

Atiana Serge Oulon (Burkina Faso):

The publisher of L'Événement, a leading investigative newspaper in Burkina Faso, Atiana Serge Oulon was one of the last Burkinabe journalists to dare to cover security issues. In December 2022, he published an investigation into a high-ranking military officer's suspected embezzlement of funds intended for the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP). As a result, he was brought before a military tribunal. As well as being the author of award-winning investigations, he has written several books that, inter alia, have examined the rise of terrorism and military coups. He was abducted from his home on 24 June 2024 by suspected members of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) and is thought to have been forcibly conscripted into the army.

Sevinj Vagifgizi (Azerbaijan)

Sentenced to nine years in prison on 20 June 2025 on clearly fabricated charges, Abzas Mediaeditor Sevinj Vagifgizi continues to be the indomitable voiceof the independent media in Azerbaijan. She refuses to give in to fear and, during her trial, she boldly asserted that "the truth is what the government fears most." In prison, this young journalist has devised a form of personal resistance, adapting to daily prison life while continuing her work as a journalist. In retaliation, she was "punished" this summer when the prison director conditioned her access to an electric fan, essential in Baku's extreme heat, on her ceasing to write about human rights violations. What's more, on 25 September, the journalist and her women colleagues from Abzas Mediawere suddenly transferred to a prison located nearly three hours from Baku, making it much harder for her family and lawyers to visit her - a new form of pressure. Her commitment, her determination in the face of pressure, and her stubborn refusal to remain silent in the face of injustice embody dignity and hope.

Frenchie Mae Cumpio (Philippines)

For more than five years, Filipino journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio has languished in prison pending trial on trumped-up charges. Arrestedin February 2020 at the age of 21, this investigative reporter and director of the independent news website Eastern Vistafaces a possible maximum 40-year prison sentence on various accusations, including "illegal possession of firearms and explosives," a charge clearly designed to silence her. Since then, she has also been accused in connection with a trumped-up double murder. Her case is a grim example of the practice of "red-tagging" in the Philippines, in which journalists who investigate sensitive government issues are branded as "subversives" or even "terrorists." Frenchie Mae Cumpio courageously continued to investigate alleged police and military abuses despite repeated intimidation.

Angélica Cárcamo (Salvador)

A reporter for nearly 20 years for local and international media, Angélica Cárcamo is the founder of Infodemia, El Salvador's first fact-checking website, and the director of the Central American Journalists Network. She has also led innovative initiatives to counter disinformation and strengthen solidarity among reporters in the region, and chaired the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), which has documented hundreds of violations against journalists in a country where the authorities have become the main perpetrators of attacks on independent media. Although forced to flee abroad in 2025, she continues to embody the courage and resilience of media professionals in Central America.

Staff of the N1 TV channel (Serbia)

The personnel of the N1 TV news channel embody journalistic courage in Serbia, where press freedom is at an all-time low. The only major TV channel providing reliable coverage of the increasingly violent mass protests against corruption since November 2024, it has been subjected to constant hostilityfrom the authorities. The Serbian president's absurd accusations of "pure terrorism" and attempted "coup d'état" have sparked dozens of physical attacks and death threat against N1. Since June, its journalists have also been defending its editorial independence in the face of interventions by its leading shareholder, against a backdrop of regulatory pressure.

Noor Swirki (Palestine)

Gazan journalist Noor Swirki, 36, is a reporter for the independent TV news channel AlSharq Newsand often collaborates with other media outlets, giving interviews to the BBCand France Infoabout the daily lives of Gaza's residents. Since 10 October 2023, she has also been using her Facebook page to share what it means to live and work in Gaza. Married to a journalist who, like her, is also constantly reporting "on the ground," she took the difficult decision to evacuate her two young children to Egypt several months after October 2023, before the Rafah crossing was closed. She stayed behind to continue her work alongside her husband, convinced of the importance of her mission.

The Impact Prize

The Impact Prize is awarded to journalists, media or NGOs whose work has led to concrete improvement in journalistic freedom, independence and pluralism, or to an increase in awareness of these issues.

Bisan Owda (Palestine)

"It's me Bisan from Gaza, and I'm still alive." This has become her signature. For a journalist in Gaza, reminding people that you're alive is no small matter, given that the Israel Defence Forces have killed more than 200 media professionals since 7 October 2023. Bisan Owda, 21, has continued to tell the world about the horrors experienced by the people of Gaza. With 4.9 million followers on Instagram and 1.4 million on TikTok, her catchphrase has also become the title of her Emmy-winning show, which airs on Al-Jazeera's AJ+channel.

Staff of the online media Luật Khoa (Vietnam)

Founded in 2014 by a Vietnamese journalists' collective, Luật Khoais an independent media outlet that has established itself as one of the few reliable sources of information about Vietnam, reaching a large audience through social media and its newsletters. Increasingly persecuted by the authorities, its current leadership operates in exile, while most of its reporters continue their work on the ground. One of the founders, journalist Pham Doan Trang, a winner of the 2019 RSF Press Freedom Prize, was sentencedto nine years in prison in 2020 for alleged dissemination of "propaganda against the state." Regularly subjected to technical blockages and smear campaigns, it continues to produce rigorous and educational journalism, offering a structured alternative narrative to the Vietnamese Communist Party's propaganda.

Mauricio Weibel Barahona (Chile)

Mauricio Weibel Barahona exposed one of the biggest military corruption scandals in Latin America, revealing massive fraud in arms procurement and the illegal use of secret defence funds. In retaliation, he and his sources were subjected to threats, surveillance, burglaries and, in 2017, a massive illegal espionage operation. After this was revealed in 2019 and after several years of judicial investigation, two officials were formally charged and are now facing up to 20 years in prison. Having become a symbol of press freedom, he and his lawyers drafted a Model Law for the Protection of Journalists, which is currently awaiting ratification by the senate.

Radio Free Asia (RFA)

RFAcontinues to be one of the few independent voices in countries where censorship prevails such as China, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Broadcasting in nine languages, it provides millions of people with reliable news reporting that is often unavailable elsewhere. But RFAis an offshoot of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which Donald Trump has been dismantling since March 2025, directly threatening its journalists and undermining the right to information of already oppressed communities in Asia.

Dhanya Rajendran (India)

As founder and editor of the online media outlet The News Minute, Dhanya Rajendran has been drawn into a full-blown fight for press freedom, which the Indian government is trying to restrict. Under her leadership, The News Minutehas established itself as a benchmark for quality journalism, but she and her team have been repeatedly subjected to lawsuits and are harassed online because of their work. She is also at the forefront of defending the space for independent media in India as the head of Digipub, an umbrella organisation for digital media. And she has initiated several legal challenges to laws introduced by the government to muzzle the press.

Tal al-Mallouhi (Syria)

Syrian blogger Tal al-Mallouhi spent 15 yearsin Bashar al-Assad's prisons for her online journalism. Arrested in 2009 at the age of just 19, she was wrongfully accused of "disclosing information to a foreign state. She was subjected to humiliation and nine months of solitary confinement in the prisons in Douma and Adra. Released in December 2024 when the regime fell, she is the voice of a generation of journalists and prisoners of conscience silenced by the Baath Party dictatorship. Despite the suffering she endured, she remains determined to defend press freedom and human rights in Syria. Her resilience, sacrifice and courage make her an iconic figure in the fight for the right to information.

The Independence Prize

The Independence Prize is awarded to journalists, media or NGOs for resisting pressure (including financial, political, economic or religious pressure) or for embodying the values and rules that enable them to resist (rejecting conflicts of interest, resisting economic domination).

+972 Magazine (Israel / Palestine)

Created in 2010, this news site is at the forefront of the fight against the disinformation spread by Israel. The site's name comes from the telephone country code shared by Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Its editorial independence can be seen in the unprecedented, public-interest nature of the investigations conducted by its journalists, who include both Palestinians and Israelis - a rarity in the local media landscape. +972 Magazinerecently revealedthe existence of a "legitimisation cell" within the Israeli army that is tasked, inter alia, with finding spurious grounds to justify the army's targeted killings of Gazan journalists such as Al Jazeerareporter Anas al-Sharif.

Staff of the local media NikVesti (Ukraine)

Based in southeastern Ukraine's Mykolaiv region, near the front line, NikVestihas to confront many challenges, which include Russian bombardment, harassment by the authorities, and severe economic hardship since the cutoff of funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This media outlet nonetheless continues to document the war day after day, investigate local corruption, and actively promote support for independent media at many public conferences in Ukraine and internationally.

Shin Daewe (Myanmar)

An award-winning reporter and documentary filmmaker, Shin Daewe is renowned for her work on environmental issues and the impact of the civil war. On 10 January 2024, a military court sentenced her to life imprisonment - later reduced to 15 years - for "complicity in terrorism." This was the harshest sentence passed on a journalist since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021. Shin Daewe had freelanced for several media outlets in recent years and had worked in the past for the Burmese service of Radio Free Asia (RFA).

Mourad Zeghidi (Tunisia)

A respected sports journalist who has worked for the French TV channel Canal+and the privately-owned Tunisian radio station IFM, Mourad Zeghidi has been subjected to judicial harassment in connection with both his work and his support for imprisoned fellow journalist Mohamed Boughalleb. In July 2024, he was sentenced on appeal to eight months in prison on a charge of "spreading false news" for his comments on the elections and for criticising decisions by President Kaïs Saïed. As a result of his statement to the judge, asserting that he was only doing his job, he has become a symbol of resistance against growing harassment of the media in Tunisia. In November 2024, a new detention order was issued against him in a money laundering investigation under the anti-terrorism law.

UKweli Coalition Media Hub

This is an investigative platform specialising in the Great Lakes region. Supported by Afrique XXIand Africa Uncensored, the platform's journalists conducted a months-long investigation into a vast network of trafficking in cocoa beans and cocoa between the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, discoveringthat the armies of both countries, civil servants and even armed groups are all involved in the trafficking, which evades customs controls. Several of the platform's journalists were subjected to threats and intimidation during the investigation.

Fatih Altayli (Türkiye)

One of Türkiye's most popular political journalists, Fatih Altayli has been detained since 22 June 2025 for referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's declining popularity on his YouTube channel. Despite facing the possibility of more than five years in prison for "threatening" the president, he conducted a prison interview in August with Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu - regarded as Erdogan's main challenger in the 2028 presidential election - who has himself been detained since March 2025. Even from behind bars, Altayli continues to inform his millions of followers on X and YouTube, even though his YouTube channel has been threatened with censorship. However, his health problems forced him to take a break on 6 October, three days after his trial began. His request for release has been rejected and his trial will resume on 26 November.

The Mohamed Maïga Prize for African Investigative Journalism

This prize recognises exemplary journalistic work, embodying the values ​​of courage and integrity in the pursuit of truth and the public's right to be informed. It celebrates African investigative journalists who, following in the footsteps of Mohamed Maïga, a journalist who died 40 years ago, cover such issues as human rights, the environment, education, and the right to information.

Atiana Serge Oulon (Burkina Faso)

The publisher of L'Événement, a leading investigative newspaper, Atiana Serge Oulon was one of the last Burkinabe journalists to dare to cover security issues. In December 2022, he published an investigation into suspected embezzlement by a high-ranking officer, which resulted in his being brought before a military tribunal. His investigations have received several awards, and he has written several books on the rise of terrorism and the two recent military coups. Abducted from his home on 24 June 2024 by suspected members of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), he was probably conscriptedby force into the army.

Justin Yarga (Burkina Faso)

A Burkinabe freelance journalist based in Sweden, Justin Yarga was the editor of the media outlet Burkina 24. In collaboration with Al-Jazeera, he published an investigationin March 2025 into the use of ghost reporters to spread pro-Russian propaganda in West Africa. The second partof his investigation, published in Jeune Afrique, sheds light on a vast influence campaign that a network of media outlets used in the Sahel in 2022 and 2023 to disseminate a pro-Russian and anti-French narrative. Yarga has also collaborated with other media outlets and investigative collectives, including LightHouse Reports.

Ukweli Coalition Media Hub (East Africa)

Supported by Afrique XXIand Africa Uncensored, the journalists with this investigative platform specialising in the Great Lakes region publishedan investigation in July 2025 into a vast network of trafficking in cocoa beans and cocoa between the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. It revealed that the armies of both countries, civil servants and armed groups are involved in this trafficking, which evades customs controls. Several journalists with the platform were subjected to threats and intimidation during the investigation, which took several months.

Joliba TV (Mali)

A privately-owned TV news channel followed by much of the country's viewing public, Joliba TVplays a leading role in safeguarding media pluralism in Mali. After being suspended in November 2022, Joliba TVwas suspended again by the High Authority for Communication (HAC) for six months, from November 2024 to May 2025. Nine days before the second suspension order was issued, Burkina Faso's High Council for Communication (CSC) had filed a complaint with its Malian counterpart about a Joliba TVprogramme in which a guest had questioned a reported destabilisation attempt in Burkina Faso, claiming that it was "staged."

Elza Sandrine Sawadogo (Burkina Faso)

Investigative journalist Elza Sandrine Sawadogo is the director and editor of the privately-owned weekly L'Economiste du Fasoand, since 2016, has been an active member of the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO). Also a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), she has covered the Panama Papers, the West Africa Leaks, the Pandora Papers, and the Shadow Diplomats. The first investigative journalist from Francophone Africa to sit on the board of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), she received the 2021 Norbert Zongo Prize.

Truth Reporting Post (TRP)

Created in July 2022, the Truth Reporting Post (TRP)- originally called the Togo Reporting Post- is a consortium of investigative journalists based in Lomé. Its goal is to promote investigative journalism in Togo and the rest of West Africa aimed at combatting corruption, poor governance, and human rights violations - including violations of free speech and media freedom - by fostering collaboration, networking, and teamwork. TRPmembers have published investigations into hospitals in Togo and Guinea, mercury trafficking between Togo and Burkina Faso, the W National Park in Benin, and the Pandora Papers.

Lucas Dolega-SAIF Photo Award

Robin Tutenges (France)

Fano's Kingdom(Ethiopia, 2025)
This French photographer and journalist travelled clandestinely to the Amhara region of Ethiopia in May 2025 to report on the Fano, the region's nationalist militia, covering their insurrection against federal forces in the capital, Addis Ababa, amid reports of increasing abuses against civilians.

Adrien Vautier (France)

In Ukraine's Pokrovsk, The Underground War (Ukraine, 2024)
French photojournalist Adrien Vautier went to the city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine to portray the underground life of residents sheltering to escape drones and shelling, showing the daily reality of soldiers and civilians forced to take refuge to survive.

Emin Özmen (Türkiye)

Syria: Children of War - From Trauma to the Hope of Recovery(Syria, 2024)
This series by Turkish photojournalist Emin Özmen explores how fourteen years of war have left deep scars on Syrian children, who grew up in fear and are now trying to adapt to a fragile peace.

Marion Péhée (France)

Southern Madagascar: Accessing and Trading Water(Madagascar, 2024)
In "Southern Madagascar: Accessing and Trading Water" ("Sud de Madagascar : accès et commerce de l'eau"), French photojournalist Marion Péhée explores life in southern Madagascar - a region hard hit by drought and climate change - where people are deprived of safe drinking water and struggle daily to access this scarce resource.

Abdus Salam (Bangladesh)

People's Uprising(Bangladesh, 2024)
In this series, Bangladeshi photojournalist Abdus Salam documents the student movement that emerged to protest the civil service quota system. The demonstrations, violently repressed by the government, grew into a mass uprising that culminated in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and departure from the country on 5 August 2024. In the streets of Dhaka, young people celebrated the victory and hung the word "JUSTICE" on the gates of Parliament.

Paloma Laudet (France)

Living under the M23(Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2024)
In "Living under the M23" ("Vivre sous le M23"), French photojournalist and filmmaker Paloma Laudet documented the escalation of the conflict ravaging the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo - from the M23 rebels' capture of Goma, the capital of the province North Kivu, and Bukavu, capital of the province of South Kivu, to mass human rights violations.

The jury for this thirty-third edition is composed of distinguished journalists, defenders of press freedom and photojournalists from around the world: Rana Ayyub, Indian journalist and Washington Postopinion columnist; Raphaëlle Bacqué, French senior reporter at Le Monde; Mazen Darwish, Syrian lawyer and president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression; Zaina Erhaim, Syrian journalist and communications consultant; Erick Kabendera, Tanzanian investigative journalist; Hamid Mir, editor-in-chief, columnist and writer; Frederik Obermaier, investigative journalist at the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung; Mikhail Zygar, journalist and founding editor-in-chief of the only independent Russian TV channel, Dozhd; Patrick Chauvel, renowned war reporter; Karine Pierre, winner of the 2023 Lucas Dolega-SAIF Photo Award; Gaël Turine, winner of the 2024 Lucas Dolega-SAIF Photo Award. Sadibou Marong, head of the RSF Africa bureau, joined the jury to present and support the new Mohamed Maïga Prize for African Investigative Journalism. The jury's deliberations were chaired by French journalist and columnist Pierre Haski, president of RSF.