12th "Mika Yamamoto Memorial International Journalist Award" Call for Entries Now Open Awarded to journalists who report on the absurdity of life in the world.

The Mika Yamamoto Memorial Foundation has begun accepting applications for the 12th Mika Yamamoto Memorial International Journalist Award for candidates and candidate works. The deadline is Wednesday, March 5, 2025. The winner will be announced in mid-May.

Photo of Mika Yamamoto during her reporting in Iraq

About the subject

The prize is open to journalists who published their coverage activities and their works between January 2024 and February 2025. Basically, photos, videos, and articles, but newsworthy documentaries (films shot from a journalistic perspective, not commercial films) and equally newsworthy reportage (books or long-running series of articles) will also be included.

We would like to present the Mika Yamamoto Memorial International Journalist Award to a journalist and his or her work that observes and conveys the suffering and resilience of people trying to protect and live their daily lives under the constant absurdity of conflict, oppression, and disaster in the world today. We hope that this prize will help to convey to the world the image of these people.

Outline of the Mika Yamamoto Memorial International Journalist Award

＜Deadline

March 5, 2025 (Wednesday) *Entry sheets and entries must arrive on or before the deadline.

＜Announcement of winners

Mid-May 2025

<Persons and Works Eligible for the Prizes

The Mika Yamamoto Memorial International Journalist Award is presented in anticipation of the emergence of new leaders in international reporting.

The award is open to self-recommendations, nominations by others, nationality, and the country or region in which the work was published. The award is open to freelancers and individuals affiliated with independent media outlets that do not have their own media outlets. (However, journalists and others affiliated with major media outlets are also eligible for the award if their work is particularly humanistic, spirited, and meaningful.)

For more information on how to apply, please refer to the Mika Yamamoto Memorial Foundation website.

https://www.mymf.or.jp/

<Prize money

300,000 yen

<Selection Committee Members

Takashi Okamura (Editor, explorer, travel journalist)

Kaori Kawai (Nonfiction writer)

Fumihiko Takayama (Author)

Toshihiro Yoshida (Journalist)

About Mika Yamamoto Memorial Foundation

The Mika Yamamoto Memorial Foundation was established on October 17, 2012 to carry on the legacy of Mika Yamamoto's legacy, with the aim of reporting on the various conflicts and oppressions that are occurring around the world and the people living under them, as well as to support and nurture the journalists who play such a role.

About Mika Yamamoto

Mika Yamamoto is a journalist, born in 1967. After working as a news reporter and director at Asahi Newstar, she joined the independent news agency Japan Press in 1996. She has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Uganda, Chechnya, Indonesia, and other conflict zones around the world. He received the Bourne-Ueda Memorial International Press Award Special Prize for his coverage of the Iraq War, and was shot and killed in Aleppo on August 20, 2012, while covering the Syrian Civil War.