MOSCOW, DECEMBER 21, 2024 – The jury of the 2024 Khaled Alkhateb International Memorial Awards, which honors the finest journalism from conflict zones, has announced its winners. This year, the awards went to war correspondents from Russian TV networks Zvezda and NTV, and to the UAE-based Al Mashhad TV channel. RT established the award in memory of Khaled Alkhateb, an RT Arabic freelance journalist who died in Syria in 2017.
This year’s awards jury was chaired by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan. Evaluating entries alongside her were RT Arabic war correspondent Sargon Hadaya and VGTRK frontline correspondent and Hero of Russia Yevgeny Poddubny.
In a video address, Simonyan thanked all the participants and offered her congratulations to the winners.
“Unfortunately, among the people nominated for this year’s awards, there are some who have tragically lost their lives. We can see firsthand how journalism is becoming one of the world’s most dangerous professions. We have seen journalists being deliberately targeted in war zones. Even now, there are threats made against journalists working in Syria. This year, our fellow journalist and good friend Yevgeny Poddubny was nearly killed. And the number of journalists and their families who have died in Gaza is beyond count. I would like to honor the memory of all those great men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of their homeland, their profession, for the right and the duty to speak the truth to the public,” Margarita Simonyan said.
In 2024, competing for the Khaled Alkhateb Awards were works by journalists from Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon, Russia, Azerbaijan and a number of other countries.
WINNERS:
Igor Lapik from Zvezda TV Channel (Russia) with a report from the frontlines of the Special Military Operation, focusing on the work of the Bars-6 UAV unit. During filming, the journalists came under attack from a Ukrainian kamikaze drone.
Mohammed Baalousha from Al Mashhad TV (UAE) with a report on the destruction of the Al-Nasr Hospital in Gaza by Israeli forces. The journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike. He is being honored posthumously.
Omar Magomedov from NTV (Russia) for his coverage of frontline operations on the Donetsk axis, highlighting the work of Russian flamethrower units.
Nakhle Odaime from MTV (Lebanon) reported on the ongoing conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border. During filming, the journalists were caught in a rocket attack. For his report, Odaime has been awarded a special prize – an internship with RT Arabic.
In previous years, journalists from Russia, Iraq, Ireland, Singapore, the United States, Italy, Syria, and Yemen were among the winners of the Khaled Alkhateb International Memorial Awards.
The RT network established the Khaled Alkhateb International Memorial Awards in memory of 25-year-old journalist Khaled Alkhateb, who collaborated with RT Arabic. He was killed in a rocket attack by militants in Syria’s Homs province in 2017 while covering clashes between government forces and terrorist groups. In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree posthumously awarding him the Medal for Courage, which was presented to his family at the inaugural awards ceremony.
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