Best magazine reporting from abroad
AWARD YEAR: 2007
AWARD NAME: The Ed Cunningham Award 2007
RECIPIENT: Andrea Elliott
AFFILIATION: The New York Times Magazine
HONORED WORK: “Where Boys Grow Up To Be Jihadis”
Andrea Elliott spent weeks in a Moroccan town talking with friends, relatives and neighbors of five young men who left as Jihadi on suicide missions to Spain and Iraq. She records detailed accounts of their lives, despite initial suspicions and surveillance by Moroccan security forces. Her account, beautifully written, provides an unparalleled look into the making of terrorists and is a reporting tour de force. With great insight the reporter illustrates that terrorist motives are complex. Multiple forces are at work: the role of the mosques and their clergy, unemployment, limited opportunity and desire for revenge as an outgrowth of U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Citation for Excellence:
Bryan Mealer
Harper’s Magazine
“The River is a Road”