Best newspaper, news service or online reporting from abroad
AWARD YEAR: 2013
AWARD NAME: The Hal Boyle Award 2013
RECIPIENT: Rukmini Callimachi
AFFILIATION: The Associated Press
HONORED WORK: Al-Qaida’s Papers
AP’s Rukmini Callimachi won both the Hal Boyle and Bob Considine awards for her reporting on a trove of al-Qaida documents uncovered in Mali. She is the first reporter ever to win both awards in the same year.
At great personal risk, Callimachi traversed a desert route through Mali, alone and with militants close behind her, to uncover one of the most significant troves of al-Qaida documents ever made public. Her sly, witty and sharply observed accounts of al Qaida’s operation, goals and mindset — from penny-pinching to public stonings — shed light on an organization that, despite more than a decade of war, remains largely opaque. From one of the most dangerous places on earth, she gave voice to civilians crushed under jihadist rule and followed in the footsteps of fighters at the scene of the biggest battle against al-Qaida in years.
Citation for Excellence:
Tripti Lahiri and The Wall Street Journal Staff
The Wall Street Journal
“Crimes Against Women: The Call for Reform in India”