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Mae Azango is one of the  of the distinguished UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Prize, the only prize dedicated to the work of journalists within the UN system. The jury will review nominations and decide on this year’s laureate to be announced around World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.

Azango is a journalist for FrontPage Africa and Liberia Director of New Narratives, a non-profit newsroom that builds news organizations in low-income countries. She is well known for her reports on the trafficking of women and gender-based violence. Her reporting on female genital mutilations contributed to the suspension of the practice in her country.

When asked when she decided to become a journalist, Azango goes back to the time when she lived under constant harassment as a refugee in Ivory Coast between 1996 and 2000. In 2011, she won a grant from the US based Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for her work on “under-reported stories” in “human interest and developmental journalism”. In 2012, she was awarded the International Press Freedom Award of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. She is the author of Voice of the Trumpetess, a memoir of her experience of Liberia’s 14-year civil war. She says that the local challenges to press freedom include death threats, physical assaults on journalists from security personnel, and intimidation by officials. She adds: “On top of this, news media faces tremendous financial challenges, especially now with the Covid pandemic. Several news organizations have closed shop and others have not paid journalists for months. That leaves little money for independent reporting.“   

In regard to investigative journalism, Mae Azango sees this as critical to keeping government’s feet to the fire and forcing them to act appropriately. “As a former refugee whose rights were constantly violated while I was in exile, I have devoted my life to journalism that exposes human rights violations and gives audiences tools to fight for accountability and change. In Liberia our investigative journalism has amplified the work of human rights activists, given a voice to those with no other recourse to justice and empowered Liberians to demand change. Without strong journalism tyranny reigns.”

Reflecting on her experience of war and being a teenage mother, she says such hardships have also been shared by women, children and poor people in her country. As Liberia struggles to rebuild from the devastation of 14-years of war, Mae Azango explains that “investigative journalism is my vehicle to drive change and make Liberian a fairer and more equitable place for our children and grandchildren”.

The Jury is composed of six media professionals from around the world, recognized for their leading investigative work and defence for freedom of expression. Awarded annually, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (3 May) which will this year take place in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from 2 to 5 May 2022, the Prize is marked by a ceremony and the winner is presented with the sum of US$ 25,000.

This Prize was established by UNESCO’s Executive Board, in 1997, in honour of Guillermo Cano, a Colombian journalist who died in the exercise of his profession. Its purpose is to reward each year a person, organization or institution that has made a notable contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially if risks have been involved.

Nominations, submitted by UNESCO Member States and international and regional NGOs active in the field of press freedom, should be submitted by filling out the in English or French and sent, before 15 February 2022, to the UNESCO Secretariat.

More information on the Prize is available .