A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams: AIPS Sport Media Awards honour top journalists of the year in special ceremony in Rabat

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 of this seventh edition 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 - TalkSPORT

Third place: Ashish Sharma (UK), Football’s Financial Fairplay - BBC

 

Special category: Investigative Award
Presented by AIPS President Gianni Merlo.
Robert Schöffel, Simon Wörz, Ulrich Hagmann, Katharina Brunner, Sebastian Krause, Helga van Ooijen, Johanna Walter received the presidential prize for their stunning work unveiling how illegal betting companies were gathering data in amateur football games.

 

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

 

Special mentions in investigative reporting

1) Rayna Banks (United States of America), The NBA, Rwanda & Sportswashing - ESPN

2) Jonathan Collazo (Mexico), El palco VIP fantasma: un negocio en el corazón del Gran Premio de México - Mediotiempo.com

3) Ondrej Trunecka (Czech Republic), 200 million trick and other questionable steps of the Czech hockey association - iDNES.cz

4) Hasan Elsaadny (Egypt), “Loss Brokers”... We reveal, by name, the details of smuggling minor players to Europe.. 550$ immigr - https://www.youm7.com

5) Mark Crysell (New Zealand), Billy's Message - Television New Zealand SUNDAY Current Affairs Programme

6) BP Anmol, Deep Subedi (Nepal), 16 years on the run: ANFA’s Vice President, who was sentenced to 5 years for drug trafficking - Ukaalo.com

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 /مستقبل اللعبة - 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