Natalie Amiri receives the journalism prize of the city of Munich 2022
This year’s Journalism Prize of the City of Munich is awarded to the journalist Natalie Amiri. This was decided by the cultural committee of the state capital of Munich on the recommendation of a jury. The Journalism Prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and is awarded every three years, alternating with the Literature Prize and the Translation Prize. The award is given for an outstanding overall journalistic performance in word, sound and/or image, distributed in newspapers, magazines, books, radio and/or television. The personalities eligible for the award should have contributed through their work to giving Munich a profile as a media city.
The reasoning of the jury:
“The German-Iranian journalist Natalie Amiri reports profoundly and knowledgeably about the complex situation in countries like Iran, Afghanistan or Syria. Among other things, she headed the ARD studio in Tehran from 2015 to 2020. In May 2020 she had to give up the management for safety reasons. She reports regularly for the ARD Weltspiegel
of the Bayrischer Rundfunk from Munich. Her book Between the Worlds about her experiences in Iran became a bestseller in 2021. Despite all journalistic objectivity, Natalie Amiri’s work is characterized by a special closeness. Her reports from abroad go beyond the description of pure government dealings and bring the living environments of the people there to television viewers and readers, give realistic insights into their wishes, longings and the sometimes inner division between ‘East and West’. As a woman, Natalie Amiri has even more access to the populations in Iran or Afghanistan, because journalists here are usually denied access to the female part qua gender. This makes Natalie Amiri’s descriptions more holistic and deep. They provide accurate, sensitive information and are fearless and persistent even in critical situations – and thus contribute to the fact that people in the forgotten crisis regions do not become “.
More information about the award and the jury at www.muenchen.de/literatur.