The Zeitenspiegel agency has awarded the Gabriel Grüner Scholarship for the 10th time. The research scholarship, endowed with 6,000 euros, went to journalist Amrai Coen, 22, and photographer Fabian Brennecke, 24.
Podcast: Gabriel Grüner Scholarship RAI South Tyrol
http://zeitenspiegel.podspot.de/
During a ceremony at the Gruner + Jahr press house in Hamburg, Stern editor-in-chief Thomas Osterkorn remembered Gabriel Grüner, a reporter in Stern's foreign desk. Grüner was murdered in Kosovo in June 1999 along with photographer Volker Krämer and translator Senol Alit. Gabriel Grüner always championed young colleagues who were “passionately driven to become reporters.” He gave seminars, helped newcomers with his contacts in editorial offices, and planned the awarding of a research scholarship with Zeitenspiegel founder Uli Reinhardt. To honor their friend and colleague, the Zeitenspiegel agency established the junior scholarship after Grüner's death. “In the spirit of Gabriel Grüner,” Thomas Osterkorn said, "we at Stern feel obligated to support this scholarship.".
Gerd Schulte-Hillen, former CEO of Gruner + Jahr AG, emphasized the importance of the work of reporters in crisis areas: “Many crimes go unpunished out of fear of publication.” The International Criminal Court would not have been established by politicians if journalists had not persistently reported on war crimes. The Gabriel Grüner Scholarship aims to encourage young reporters to “be on the road for a more just world.”
The full speech can be found at this link:
Gerd Schulte-Hillen
Amrai Coen and Fabian Brennecke won the jury's vote for the Recheche Scholarship with their project to portray Mexicans who have lived illegally in the USA for a long time and are now being deported to their homeland. “We want to know what it's like for people to have a face again after years of anonymity,” explained Amrai Coen. She thanked them “for the tremendous opportunity that not many aspiring journalists get: to research a big story without financial worries or time pressure.”
Fabian Brennecke is studying photojournalism at Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Amrai Coen recently graduated from the Zeitenspiegel School of Reportage Günter Dahl in Reutlingen and is now doing an internship at Der Spiegel in Hamburg. (bh)