The Bob Considine Award 2021

Best newspaper, news service or digital interpretation of international affairs

AWARD DATE: 2021

AWARD NAME: The Bob Considine Award 2021

AWARD RECIPIENT: Neil Munshi

AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: Financial Times

AWARD HONORED WORK: “The Consequences and Drivers of Conflict in West and Central Africa”

AWARD SPONSOR: William J. Holstein and Rita Sevell

Munshi’s series combined the best of explanatory writing with meticulous on-the-ground reporting from a sorely under- covered part of the world. He explained complex layers of power and the personal impact of the conflicts in Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic. At considerable personal risk, Munshi traveled to dangerous and remote places. He located and interviewed first-hand sources — among them migrants, gold miners, kidnapping victims and others caught in the turmoil that few casual readers have been able to comprehend.

Links to the winning work:

Russian mercenaries leave trail of destruction in the Central African Republic

How the death of Gaddafi is still being felt by Libya’s neighbours

Instability in the Sahel: how a jihadi gold rush is fuelling violence in Africa

Why ‘the kidnapping industry is thriving’ in Nigeria

How France lost Mali: failure to quell jihadi threat opens door to Russia

Citation for Excellence:
Nicolas Pelham
The Economist’s 1843 Magazine
“Banker, Princess, Warlord: The Many Lives of Asma Assad”