EN
HR
There’s likely no better place for storytellers than Rabat, the cultural heart of Morocco, where ancient traditions have preserved the best stories for centuries. It was here that the 2024 AIPS Sport Media Awards concluded, celebrating the world’s finest sports journalists. A special Arabian night, a caravan of Moroccan dreams, brought together finalists from across the globe.
The ceremony started with a speech of AIPS President Gianni Merlo, highlighting the outstanding quality received in the 2065 submissions coming from 136 countries. After four voting stages, the last 27 made their way to Morocco.
The eight senior categories and the Young Reporters categories had their winners announced at the stunning Palace Jawhara, the perfect setting for a very special evening with Morad Moutaouakkil and Sarah Fayek as hosts, and many important guests that were present in the first ceremony held in Africa since the creation of the Awards in 2018.
All continents and all types of media formats and outlets were represented in the gala, broadcast live by Al-Riyadiyah Channel and Al-Kass Qatari Channel, with touching speeches about sports media excellence and a special tribute for four Moroccan journalists: Najib Salmi, former president of the Moroccan Sports Press Association; Mohamed Salhami, one of the founders of the Moroccan Sports Press Association in 1971; Mustafa Badri, chief sports photographer and managing editor of the Moroccan newspaper Al-Mountakhab; and the late Belaid Bouimed, whose family received a standing ovation while remembering the former president of AIPS Africa.
Later on, the category winners were unveiled. Senior categories winners will receive 8,000 US Dollars for first prize, 3,000 for second prize and 2,000 for third prize, while Young Reporters winners will receive an AIPS Scholarship at a top sporting event.
Video Short Feature
Presented by AIPS vice-president Charles Camenzuli, ???Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication
Winner: Jieni Cheng (China), Surface - China Media Group
Second place: Armando Oquendo (Spain), First try - A flight through Montserrat - as.com
Third place: Henrique Arcoverde (Brazil), Home Turf - Grupo Globo
Photography Sport Action
Presented by AIPS vice-president Evelyn Watta, ?Mr. Mohamed Saad Berrada, Minister of National Education, Preschool, and Sports
Winner: Jerome Brouillet (France), The Golden Moment - AFP
Second place: Borut Zivulovic (Slovenia), Above the mist and trees - Thomson Reuters
Third place: Mike Egerton (UK), Simone Biles - PA Media
Young Reporters Broadcasting
Presented by Jury member Shinsuke Kobayashi, Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation
Winner: Tracy Onchoke (Kenya), Stuck in Overtime: Karatu Stadium's Costly Delay - Africa Uncensored
Writing Best Column
Presented by AIPS vice-president Hee Don Jung, IOC vice-president Nawal Elmoutawakkil
Winner: Tianhao Shen (China), A United Euro 2024, an Ununited Europe - Titan Sports
Second place: Shireen Ahmed (Canada) French hijab ban in sports called a 'shameful moment' as it prepares to host Olympics - CBC Sports
Third place: Robert Livingstone (Canada), Moving Olympic cricket from Los Angeles to New York gives us rare window into what’s really going on – GamesBids
Audio
Presented by AIPS vice-president Carlos Julio Castellanos, President & general director of Moroccan Games and Sport Youness Elmachrafi
Winner: Jens Peter Gideon (Germany), Schumacher. The story of an icon - Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)
Second place: Andrew Todos (UK), Play OnThird place How football returned to war-torn Ukraine –
Photography Portfolio
Presented by AIPS vice-president Mohammed Hiji, President of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Sport For All Nezha Bidouane
Winner: Esam Al-kmali (Yemen), Football is a gateway to peace - Esam Al-kmali
Second place: Edward Whitaker (UK), Global Horse Racing - Racing Post
Third place: Dario Belingheri (Italy), Cycling Moments - Getty Images
Video Athlete Profile
Presented by AIPS vice-president Abdoulaye Thiam, Volleyball African Confederation president Bouchra Hajij
Winner: Christoph Nahr, Philipp Grüll (Germany), Beckenbauer - ARD (German Television)
Second place: Marc Sauvourel (France), Marie-Jo - Canal Plus
Third place: Andreas Troll (Germany), Being Michael Schumacher - ARD/DasErste
Young Reporters Photography
Presented by AIPS vice-president Csisztu Zsuzsa, Mubarak Alboainin, Qatari Sports Press Association
Winner: Anna Szilágyi (Hungary), Champion - EPA Images
Video Documentary
Presented by AIPS vice-president Ioannis Daras and Jury member Jaap de Groot
Winner: Alexandra Guiral, Louis Villers (France), The Sirens Of Ukraine - Canal+
Second place: Robert Schöffel, Simon Wörz (Germany), Attack on amateur football · The greed of the betting industry - Bayerischer Rundfunk/ARD
Third place: Nan Shen (China), Aim High - Xinhua News Agency
Young Reporters Writing
Presented by Jury members Andreas Schirmer, Vincent Amalvy
Winner: Anushe Engineer (Pakistan), It’s all or nothing for Arshad Nadeem in Paris - Dawn Media Group
Writing Best Colour Piece
Presented by AIPS EC members Hiroshi Takeuchi with Emmanuel Fantaneanu
Winner: Adam Leventhal (UK), Christian Atsu - one year on from the search to find him. Through the eyes of those closest to him. - The Athletic
Second place: Itay Goder (Israel), "I give you my word: nothing will happen to you here" - Der Spiegel
Third place: Steve Menary (UK), Greek Tragedy - Josimar
The top 10 of each category were also unveiled in ranking order. AIPS will share the final positions in the following days, as well as the continental rankings, to celebrate journalists on a regional level.
The gala also unveiled the Special Commendations for some of the highlighted works, regardless of their final position. These special mentions represent either the cornerstone values of AIPS, such as fighting for a clean sport and against all kinds of discrimination, free press and gender equality, and the excellence on certain topics of interest, such as celebrating sports history, raising awareness on mental health, climate change, and finding innovative ways of reporting and storytelling formats. These works were highlighted in the different voting stages, either by the panel of specialists, the Executive Committee members and the Jury members.
The list of Special Mentions is as follows:
Topic of the year: Fighting against betting corruption
Cătălin Tolontan (Romania), "Football fans converted into gamblers" - How some want to change the role of the media - GOLAZO.ro
Andrés Burgo (Argentina), More and more players snatched by illegal betting to play to lose - El Diario Ar
Safeguarding for a clean sport
Ida-Marie Vatn (Norway), The coach and the policeman - TV 2
Retro Story Retold
Ivan Kalashnikov (Russia), Disaster-1982. USSR’s hidden tragedy - Sports
Special Report, Visual & Data Story
Magnus Wikan (Norway), The Last Days of Winter Sports - TV 2
Celebrating sports history
Ariel Scher (Argentina), Menotti, the poetic legacy - Revista Acción
Raising awareness on mental health
Issy Ronald (United Kingdom), For even the most successful Olympians, life after the Games can be like ‘going down that cliff’ - CNN
Contributing to the development of women in sports
Constanza Sandoval Vera (Chile), The soccer field saved our lives: Salto FC's St - TNT Sports Chile / Warner Bros
Fighting against Racism and Discrimination
Demétrio Prado (Brazil), The strength of a woman; Edinanci asks herself: 'Did I really deserve to go through this?' - UOL
Climate Change & sustainable sport
Simon Asare (Ghana), Saving the game: A clarion call for sports associations to sign onto UN's Sports for Climate Action - Ghana News Agency
Local reporting
Abdul Abdallah (Tanzania), How counterfeit jerseys drain billions from Yanga, Simba SC - Citizen Newspaper
Remote reporting
José Ignacio Martínez Rodríguez (Spain), Rugby to tackle prejudices - La Marea
Promoting Diversity and Inclusion
Arafat Zubaear (Bangladesh), Indigenous athletes of Bangladesh: Rich contributions conquering diverse obstacles - Dhaka Post
Original Story
José Ignacio Pérez Hernández (Spain), I boxed in Mauthausen - Marca
Outstanding interview
Tarrek Boussaha (Algeria), Exclusive one-on-one with Algerian boxer Imane Khelif - SNTV/AP
Total reportage
Sebastian Torok (Argentina), Novak Djokovic, the man and the legend: “What makes me fragile?” - La Nación
Sport for Hope
Mark Gallagher (Ireland), 'One way we can keep fighting is to keep playing – with football, we can show everyone we are still here as a people” - Irish Daily Mail/Irish Mail on Sunday
Parasports reporting
Paul Carter (United Kingdom) - Breaking barriers in Paralympics - BBC TechXPlore
The fight against doping
Romain Donneux (France), Kenya, at the back of the fight against doping - L'Equipe
Sports for the next generation
Safae Noury (Morocco), The future of the game /?????? ?????? - ifjplus
Longform journalism
Jonathan Rosen (United States of America), Running on air - MIT Technology Review
Social Role of Sports
Theo Lee Ray (United Kingdom), The Club That George Built - TNT Sports & Discovery+
Insight on sports science
Amy Woodyatt (United Kingdom), They played for their country in their 20s. By their 40s, they had early onset dementia - CNN Sport
Journalism working conditions
Laurent Favre (Switzerland), The result of the match, the death of the chronicle of the current sport - Le Temps
AIPS Media/Photo by Carlo Pozzoni
