5th Shifa Gardi Award goes to British journalist Isobel Yeung

The Shifa Gardi Award Committee on Saturday announced this year’s award goes to British journalist Isobel Yeung for her outstanding coverage from war zones.

The prize, which honours the memory of Rudaw Media Network’s anchor Shifa Gardi who was killed in Mosul while covering a mass killing by Islamic State (ISIS) militants, is given annually to a female journalist for their brave conflict reporting.

The Shifa Gardi Award Committee said in a statement on Saturday that Yeung from Vice News is the winner of the fifth edition of the award.

In a video message, Yeung said it is “an incredible honour to be receiving the Shifa Gardi journalist of the year award. Just to be walking in the footsteps of someone as talented as Shifa feels like an incredible privilege.”

There will be no ceremony this year as the winner is working in the field, the committee said.

“You know, our job as journalists is to create empathy, to create understanding, and most of all, to uncover the truth, and I wholeheartedly believe in that mission and I can promise that for as long as I am in this industry and as long as I have got this career, I will continue to do that, so thank you,” said Yeung.

Rudaw