PRI welcomes the winners of our international investigative journalism competition

Penal Reform International (PRI) is delighted to welcome to London the winners of its inaugural competition for the best journalism investigating the death penalty and life (or long-term) imprisonment this week.

Following review by panels of judges, the three winners will travel to London in October to visit the offices of The Guardian newspaper and meet PRI and other prison reformers. The successful entrants are:

Adaria Gushtyn, from Belarus, who won the Russian language prize for her articles detailing the cases and backgrounds of men facing the death penalty in Belarus.

Omar Maharmeh, from Jordan, who won the Arabic language prize for his article about a prisoner’s experience of waiting for execution.

Nancy Mullane, from the USA, who won the English language prize for her radio broadcasts of life on death row and the role of prisoners acting as ‘jailhouse lawyers’ for their fellow inmates.

Alison Hannah, Executive Director of PRI, said: ‘I am delighted with the quality of the winning entries. I hope that this competition will increase awareness of the complex issues related to the death penalty and the hidden implications of receiving a death sentence that are usually overlooked. We want to let people know not just about the sentence and execution, but also what happens in between and the other people involved’.

The competition and prize form part of PRI’s two-year project ‘Progressive abolition of the death penalty and implementation of humane alternative sanctions after a moratorium or abolition’, which is funded by the European Union.

More information

  1. Penal Reform International is is an independent non-governmental organisation that develops and promotes fair, effective and proportionate responses to criminal justice problems worldwide.
  1. The competition was launched in February 2014 and sought entries that had been published in English, Russian or Arabic anywhere in the world between 1 April 2013 and 31 May 2014. Winning articles will be published in their original language, and in English, shortly.