SEOUL: The fifth edition of the AIPS Sport Media Awards came to a conclusion with a stunning gala in the capital of South Korea, where the AIPS Congress is currently taking place. It was not just a celebration, but also a reunion, in difficult times, as we continue to build bridges in sports and culture.

AIPS president Gianni Merlo, in his opening speech, said: “If everybody is closed in himself, there’s no solution. Sport is hope and can find solutions in the society. Look how far we’ve made it, all around the world”.

The media festival is open for work in all languages to compete for free, prompting a result of 1830 submissions from 138 different countries, judged over five voting stages until reaching the podium.

PHOTOGRAPHY SPORT ACTION

1st John Walton (UK), Flying into the crowd – PA Media
2nd Andy Couldridge (UK), Derek Chisora vs Kubrat Pulev – Reuters
3rd Xavier Bonilla (Spain), Thanks halo – DPPI Images

“I’m lost of words. This is completely unexpected for me. Thanks to AIPS and to my company. Thank you,” managed to say a very emotional Walton.

PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO

1st Oliver Scarff (UK), Anita Alvarez rescue – AFP
2nd Dario Belingheri (Italy), Cycling and its Beauties – Getty Images
3rd Ezra Shaw (USA), Flying and Sliding – Getty Images

“I have to thank the company I work for, AFP, to AIPS and to Anita and her coach, Andrea Fuentes,” said Scarff while claiming the trophy.

VIDEO ATHLETE PROFILE

1st Nikolaus Mahatsek, Nikolaus Strecha (Austria), MAXimum Verstappen: The Flying Dutchman – ServusTV
2nd Nicolas Delloye (France), Donovan Carrillo: First Mexican Olympic figure skater – Olympic Channel
3rd Joanna Mitchell, Tania Page (New Zealand), The Real Ruby – Sunday Television

VIDEO DOCUMENTARY

1st Louis Myles (UK), Croatia: Defining a nation – FIFA+
2nd Benjamin Unger (Germany), Olympics 1972: The GDR and the terror – NDR
3rd David Tryhorn (UK), The Figo Affair: The transfer that changed football – Netflix

“Thanks to all the people that helped us doing a film like this, and to all the people that talked and remembered the difficult past. Massive appreciation to all of them,” said Myles.

VIDEO SHORT FEATURE

1st Maziyar Koopidar (Iran),  I’m a girl, I’m a boy – YouTube
2nd Mike Stypulkoski, David Swartz (USA), A face for her people: Rosalie Fish – CBS Sports
3rd Adam Pretty (Australia), Bo Kramer – Getty Images

“Thanks to AIPS for selecting me. I wish to celebrate this with the people of my country that are going through a difficult time, because there’s no point of being happy alone,” said Koopidar, who claimed his second consecutive first place in this category.

WRITING BEST COLOUR PIECE

1st Bernt Jakob Oksnes (Norway), A sick skiing nation – Dagbladet
2nd Adam Williams (USA), An indigenous women’s softball team beats opponents, and machismo – The New York Times
3rd Josiane Kouagheu (Cameroon), “Football makes me forget the Boko Haram attacks for a few hours” – Le Monde Afrique

“We feel emotional and proud. We’d like to thank the AIPS Jury and all the female athletes that have shared their powerful stories of eating disorders in sports, connected to shame and taboos. It’s a contribution of what is really going on inside the sport, a matter of life and death. And thank you to our employer, Dagbladet,” said Oksnes, who claimed his second AIPS Award in this category.

WRITING BEST COLUMN

1st Alaa Abdel-Ghani (Egypt), Overseas aid – Al-Ahram
2nd Marcela Mora y Araujo (Argentina), Thrown into the World Cup: The challenge of telling things as they are and at the same time believing in magic – eldiario.ar
3rd Morgan Campbell (Canada), WNBA star Brittney Griner, detained in Russia, is guilty only for pursuing a salary that matches her skill – CBC

“Do not stop writing, do not stop expressing your word, we all work for the future of sports,” is the message sent by Alaa Abdel-Ghani and pronounced by his son on stage.

AUDIO

1st James Graham, Jessica Halloran, Jasper Leak, Claire Harvey, Lia Tsamoglou (Australia), Head Noise – The Australian
2nd Moritz Cassalette, Martin Seidemann (Germany), Jan Ullrich temporary hero – Norddeutscher Rundfunk
3rd Kayley Thomas, Jenny Johnson, Lorraine Walsh, Cathy Robinson (UK), Transfer: The Emiliano Sala Story – BBC Wales

“Congratulations on my fellow nominees for beautifully done podcasts. I’d like to thank all the members of my team, to the Australian, and the athletes that share their stories on our show,” said Jasper Leak.

Each of these finalists received a trophy and a prize money ranging from 2,000 US Dollars (3rd place), 3,000 (2nd place) and 8,000 (1st place).

YOUNG REPORTERS (ALL CATEGORIES)

1st Broadcasting, Henrique Arcoverde (Brazil)
1st Writing, Farai Shawn Matiashe (Zimbabwe)
1st Photography, Will Palmer (UK)

Winners in this category receive an AIPS scholarship at a top international event.

SPECIAL CATEGORIES The two special categories, not open to submissions, also were part of the gala. “Investigation is very difficult, the conditions and the risks are very different, too, and this is why we pick people from different parts of the world that is doing a fantastic job,” emphasised Gianni Merlo.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING 

Winner: Attila Turkey (Turkey) – The Backyard of football
Winner: Daniel Grefve (Sweden)  – The Kvarnby case, SVT (Swedish Television)
Winner: Danilo Diaz (Chile) – El penal que se cobró desde Santiago (Tribuna Andes)

A LIFE IN SPORT

Winner: Yoon Se Young, sports administrator, founder of SBS, sports broadcaster, whose contribution and legacy to sports has been massive in South Korea. Born in 1933, Yoon Se Young says: “My bones are sports administrator, my face is sport broadcaster, my soul is a sports man,”. On top of the trophy, he received three bouquets of flowers. “Thank you AIPS for your ethics and dedication. What is sport to you? To me, it is a touching drama that touches humanity and brings us together. Without the contributions of all of you here, who convey the essence of sport, the public wouldn’t know the happiness that it brings. Thanks to all of you sports have gone brighter”.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

Since 2020 we’ve introduced the special commendations offered by AIPS to top-rated works whose values are aligned with the cornerstone values of the Association. These values include defending Human Rights & gender equality, fighting against racism and all forms of discrimination, promoting a clean sports environment, offering hope towards sports, promoting sports as an answer to violence in conflict zones, reporting with independence and freedom, defending the importance of access to sources for interviews, contributing to the development of women’s sport, acknowledging the future of sports, detecting and featuring original sports stories, raising awareness about mental health, and presenting innovative ways of sports reporting, among others.

AIPS General Secretary Jura Ozmec and AIPS mentor Riccardo Romani introduced the 25 special mentions of 2022, for works that deserved a special note.

SPECIAL MENTIONS IN INVESTIGATIVE WORK 

Steve Menary (United Kingdom)  – The English Patient – Josimar
Jamie Alter (India) – On daily allowance of Rs 100, Uttarakhand cricketers worse off than unskilled workers – News9
Eduardo López navarrete (Mexico)  – The Sustainable Stadium of Yucatan hasn’t seen the light in almost two years – Diario AS

SPORTS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
José Ignacio Pérez Hernández (Spain)  – Niños rescatados por un balón
– MARCA

COMBATTING RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION IN SPORT
Shireen Ahmed (Canada)  – When Nazem Kadri hoisted the Stanley Cup, he lifted a whole community along with it  – CBC

SPORT FOR HOPE
Soobin Shin (Korea, Republic Of) – Batting on a Miracle – KBS

OUTSTANDING INTERVIEW
Christian González (Chile)  – Luis Núñez: “A mí me gustaban el trago y las mujeres; ese fue mi gran error” – La Tercera

ORIGINAL STORY
Xabier Fortes lópez (Spain)  – “Me impactó ver mi rodilla con tajo de lado a lado” – Diario AS

INTERACTIVE FEATURE
Abraham Jiménez enoa (Cuba) – La pelea imposible de Namibia Flores – Gatopardo

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY 
Esther owusua Appiah-fei (Ghana) – ‘I dreamed of representing Ghana in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, instead I was beaten up’ – The Telegraph UK

TOTAL REPORTAGE
Jeremy Story Carter (Australia) – Death of a Footy Club – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

YOUNG REPORTERS SPECIAL COMMENDATION
Jonathan Harding (United Kingdom) – ‘I’ll die with cancer and can’t change it but I can change these people’s lives’  – Racing Post

DEFENDING FREEDOM OF PRESS
Saeedeh Fathabadi (Iran) – We Are Journalists, Not Culprits / A glimpse into the troubles of being a woman sports journalist in Iran – shahraranews.ir/ Hamshahri Javan Magazine

SAFEGUARDING JOURNALISM WORKING CONDITIONS
Lolade Adewuyi (Nigeria) – Nigerian sports writers under threat of violence – Deutsche Welle

LONG-FORM JOURNALISM
David Gardner (USA) – How a former NBA player and activist became a far-right media darling – Washington Post

RAISING AWARENESS ON MENTAL HEALTH
Dariusz Faron (Poland) – First victory, then psychiatric hospital – Wirtualna Polska

PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIAL COMMENDATION
Peter Pobyjpicz (Germany) – Coming home Munich Olympia 1972: Euro 2022 – leicamonochrom.art

PROMOTING A CLEAN SPORT ENVIRONMENT 
Gaone Pearl Kerileng (Botswana) – Raising awareness about Anti-doping – Gabz FM and Gazette Stringer

CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN’S SPORT
Jeremy Wilson (UK) – From Ian Wright to Dame Laura Kenny, stars back new Telegraph campaign to close gender prize-money gap – The Telegraph

EXCELLENCE IN REMOTE REPORTING
Emmanuel Ayamga (Ghana) – The escape story of Ghanaian footballers in war-torn Ukraine  – Pulse.com.gh (Pulse Ghana)

SPECIAL COMMENDATION ON LOCAL REPORTING
Diego Domínguez (Uruguay) – The rookie doctor that saved Maradona from his first death – El Observador

CELEBRATING SPORT HISTORY
Kata Olah (Hungary) – Conquering time Agnes Keleti – Makabor Studio

SPECIAL TOPIC OF THE YEAR: RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE
Miguel Gutierrez (Venezuela) – Agencia EFE
Mykola Synelnykov (Ukraine) – uspa.com.ua – Stop War
David Alvarez (Spain) – El País
Jean-Michel Brochen (France) – L’EQUIPE Le Magazine ►
Alexandra Vladimirova (Russia) – BBC
Kateryna Godunova (Ukraine) – JSC “Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine”
Nick Hope (United Kingdom) – Women’s Sports Alliance (WSA)
Mark Temnycky (United States of America) – Atlantic Council
Artem Terentiev (Ukraine) – Futsal site 5×5
Oleksiy Mandziy (Ukraine) – JSC “Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine”

SCOOP & BREAKING NEWS
James Corbett (Ireland) – Another Man City sponsor with seemingly no staff, no active products and being run out of a mailbox – Off The Pitch

SPECIAL COMMENDATION ON PARASPORTS
Govinda raj Nepal (Nepal) – For blind cricketers in Nepal, the sport is respect, recognition and life – Onlinekhabar.com

SPECIAL REPORT, VISUAL & DATA STORY
Stefan Berndl (Austria) – Final Formula 1 drama: Why Verstappen deserves to be world champion – Kurier

CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABLE SPORT
David Garrido (United Kingdom) – Football’s toughest opponent – Sky Sports

DOCU-SERIES FORMAT
Sergio Ferraro, Juan Baldana (Argentina) – Sean Eternos – Campeones de América – Pegsa / Netflix

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