RAW in WAR’s 2012 Anna Politkovskaya Award is awarded to Marie Colvin from the United States

“Covering a war means going to places torn by chaos, destruction, and death, and trying to bear witness. It means trying to find the truth in a sandstorm of propaganda when armies, tribes or terrorists clash...Journalists covering combat shoulder great responsibilities and face difficult choices. Sometimes they pay the ultimate price...

Is it worth the cost in lives, heartbreak, loss? Can we really make a difference? I faced that question when I was injured. In fact one paper ran a headline saying, has Marie Colvin gone too far this time? My answer then, and now, was that it is worth it.

Our mission is to speak the truth to power. We send home that first rough draft of history. We can and do make a difference in exposing the horrors of war and especially the atrocities that befall civilians…

The real difficulty is having enough faith in humanity to believe that enough people be they government, military or the man on the street, will care when your file reaches the printed page, the website or the TV screen…

We do have that faith because we believe we do make a difference.”        – Marie Colvin

      Address given at a service for war wounded at St. Bride’s Church, London, 2010

This year’s winner is a unique woman, a courageous war correspondent, who dedicated her life to reporting from the frontline of almost every major conflict in recent history. From the war in the Balkans to the armed conflict in Chechnya to the wave of revolutions that ignited the Arab Spring – Marie Colvin was there, bearing witness and giving a voice to those caught up in the heart of the ‘sandstorm’. She did speak truth to power. She exposed the horrors of war and made a difference. 

We honour Marie Colvin for her courage, integrity and passion for truth. She lived a life of courage and truth-telling in the face of grave danger, just as Anna did, and paid for it with her life.

One of the most experienced and noted war correspondents of her generation Marie Colvin lost her life on 22 February 2012 while reporting from the besieged city of Homs, in Western Syria. She had defied the ban on foreign journalists imposed by the Syrian government and entered the country on the back of a motorcycle – ensuring the world would hear about the atrocities against civilians that continue there to this day; hoping that the world would care.

In the face of grave danger, she stayed in Homs where some of the most brutal violence occurred. Marie, like the 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award winner Razan Zaitouneh (from Syria) before her, became a voice for the Syrian people, who continue their struggle for freedom and human rights.

In her last broadcasts, on the evening of 21 February 2012, Marie reported live on the BBC, Channel 4, CNN and ITN News, recounting the "merciless" horror that was unfolding in Homs. Over footage of an injured child Marie reported: “That little baby is just one of two children who died today, one of the children being injured everyday. That baby probably will move more people to think ‘what is going on and why is no one stopping this murder in Homs that is happening everyday?’”

 Marie’s final reports also disproved the Syrian authorities’ claim that they were not targeting civilians. She ended her dispatch to CNN with the words “It’s a complete and utter lie that they are only going after terrorists… the Syrian army is simply shelling a city of cold, starving civilians”. The following day, she was killed, while escaping from a makeshift media centre in a civilian building, which was being shelled by the Syrian government army.

We celebrate Marie Colvin, who like Anna, carried on working, in the face of great personal danger, seeing it to be her professional duty to bear witness and give a voice to those trapped by the violence of war and conflict.

On Marie Colvin receiving the 2012 Anna Politkovskaya Award, Lord Frank Judd, a member of the 2012 Nominations Committee, said:

“A difficult choice from a particularly challenging list of nominations! Marie Colvin represented journalism at its most courageous and committed best – critically important for democracy and freedom.”

Marie Colvin | Anna Politkovskaya Award 

Film: A RAW in WAR Documentary Film: The winner of the 2012 Anna Politkovskaya Award – MARIE COLVIN (the United States)

Leaflet: About the 2012 Anna Politovskaya Award 

Press Release: RAW in WAR's Official Press Release on the 2012 Award 

Letter to the Editor: Statement by the Committee of Supporters to the Anna Politkovskaya Award (ENG)

Letter to the Editor: Statement by the Committee of Supporters to the Anna Politkovskaya Award  (RUS)

Letter to the Editor: Statement by the Committee of Supporters to the Anna Politkovskaya Award  (Arabic)

ARTICLE: From Anna Politkovskaya to Marie Colvin by Razan Zaitouneh, 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award Winner  (ENG)

ARTICLE: From Anna Politkovskaya to Marie Colvin by Razan Zaitouneh, 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award Winner  (RUS)

ARTICLE: From Anna Politkovskaya to Marie Colvin by Razan Zaitouneh, 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award Winner  (Arabic)

Media Coverage for the 2012 Anna Politkovskaya Award

Nobel Women's Initiative, 11 October 2012, US Journalist Marie Colvin receives 2012 Anna Politkovskaya Award

Novaya Gazeta, 08 October 2012, От Анны Политковской к Мари Колвин

Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, 08 October 2012, Премию имени Анны Политковской получила погибшая журналистка

The Guardian, 08 October 2012, Tribute to Marie Colvin in a letter addressed to the late Anna Politkovskaya 

The Sunday Times, 07 October 2012, Statement by the Committee of Supporters to the Anna Politkovskaya Award

Novaya Gazeta, 07 October 2012, Letter to the Editor by the Committee of Supporters to the Anna Politkovskaya Award

Newsday New York, 07 October 2012, Moscow rally held to remember reporter's murder 

UT San Diego, 07 October 2012, Moscow rally held to remember reporter's murder

The Times, 06 October 2012, The Posthumous award for journalist Marie Colvin

The Sunday Times, 05 October 2012, Marie Colvin honoured with human rights award

Novaya Gazeta, 05 October 2012, От Анны Политковской к Мари Колвин. Премию имени Ани присудили нашей британской коллеге, погибшей в Сирии

Index on Censorship, 05 October 2012, From Anna Politkovskaya to Marie Colvin

Associated Press, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award

Huffington Post, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award

Washington Post, 05 October 2012, American reporter slain in Syria while reporting for UK paper honored with human rights award

The New York Times, 05 October 2012, Reporter Slain in Syria Honored With Rights Award

Fox News, 05 October 2012, American reporter slain in Syria while reporting for UK paper honored with human rights award 

The Journalism Foundation, 05 October 2012, Marie Colvin honoured with human rights award

Press Association, 05 October 2012, Human rights honour for Colvin

ABC News, 05 October 2012, Reporter Slain in Syria Honored With Rights Award 

The Irish Independent, 05 October 2012, Human rights honour for Colvin

CBS News, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award

The Argus, 05 October 2012, Human rights honour for Colvin

The Belfast Telegraph, 05 October 2012, Human rights honour for Colvin

PortalImprensa, 05 October 2012, Prêmio de direitos humanos homenageia jornalista americana morta na Síria 

The Herald, 05 October 2012, Human rights honour for Colvin

The Kanas City Star, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award

The Miami Herald, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award

KPTV, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award 

The Journal Gazette, 05 October, 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award   

WSLS10, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award

Herald and News, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award 

Fox 8, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award

WSMV, 05 October 2012, Reporter slain in Syria honored with rights award 

Drogheda Independent, 05 October 2012, Human rights honour for Colvin

Marie Colvin in Syria

CNN, 22 February 2012, Marie Colvin's last call to CNN (Video)

The Telegraph, 22 February 2012,  Syria: Marie Colvin's final television dispatch (Video)

Channel 4 News - 22 February 2012, Marie Colvin speaking to Channel 4 News hours before she was killed in Homs, Syria. (Video)

The Sunday Times, 19 February 2012, Final dispatch from Homs, the battered city - Marie Colvin was the only British journalist reporting from inside the besieged Syrian enclave of Baba Amr. This is her final written report.

2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award Winner Razan Zaitouneh on the ongoing situation in Syria

Razan Zaitouneh, continues her work from hiding in Syria documenting the killings and toture of civilians by the army and police. For more information about Razan and her work see her 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award winner's page here. 

The Damascus Bureau, 20 September 2012, Razan Zaitouneh, Eerie Emptiness in Zamalka

The Damascus Bureau, 04 September 2012, Razan Zaitouneh, Darayya

The Damascus Bureau, 21 June 2012, Razan Zaitouneh, Cold Mountain: Where a swift death is a privilege

The Damascus Bureau, 03 May 2012, Razan Zaitouneh, Experts in Death Do Not Cry 

Remembering Marie

Channel 4 News, 23 February 2012, Tributes paid to Marie Colvin (Video)

Channel 4 Blog, 22 February 2012, Lindsey Hilsum: My Friend, Marie Colvin

Nightline, 22 February 2012, Christiane Amanpour's tribute to Marie Colvin (Video)

ITN News, 22 February 2012, Marie Colvin killed in Syria: A Foreign Correspondent inside Homs (Video)

CNN, 22 February, Marie Colvin's family on her life, work (Video)

The New York Times, 22 February 2012, Recalling Her Determined Daughter, a Journalist Killed in Syria

The Guardian, 22 February 2012, Marie Colvin's killing piles pressure on Assad as civilian death toll rises

The Telegraph, 22 February 2012, Con Coughlin, Marie Colvin: farewell to a great journalist and a dear friend

The Times, 23 February 2012, Obituary: Marie Colvin

The Sunday Times, 26 February 2012, John Witherow, The silver girl sails off into the night

The New York Times, 13 March 2012, At Funeral, Recalling Many Sides of Reporter

Vanity Fair, 18 July 2012, Marie Brenner, Marie Colvin’s Private War

More tributes and information about Marie can be found at the website set up in her name - www.mariecolvin.org.

Further Information

Marie Colvin’s career as a journalist spanned over 30 years. After graduating from Yale, Marie started her career as a police reporter for United Press International (UPI), she moved to Paris to work for UPI there, before joining the British newspaper The Sunday Times in 1985 where she remained until her death. Originally the Sunday Time’s Middle East correspondent, and later Foreign Correspondent, Marie Colvin covered conflicts in Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Chechnya, Kosovo, Sri Lanka and East Timor. It was during her time in East Timor that she was credited with saving the lives of 1,500 women and children after she refused to leave them in a compound besieged by Indonesian-backed forces.

Marie lost the use of her left eye after getting caught in a grenade blast, while reporting on the Sri Lankan civil war in 2001. In early 2011, she covered the Arab Spring’s uprisings across Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and was the first journalist offered an interview access to Muammar Gaddafi after conflict broke out in Libya.

Articles by Marie Colvin

Below is a selection of Marie’s articles written for the Sunday Times, for more please visit: www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/MarieColvin/   

23 October 2011 – Brutal retribution - He called his enemies rats. Yet it was Muammar Gadaffi who was cornered in a sewer pipe, his cruel dictatorship of Libya ending in ignominy and death

23 October 2011 – Mad Dog and me - Our Middle East Correspondent, who has known Gadaffi for 25 years, offers an insight into the mind of Libya’s fallen tyrant

22 May 2011 - ‘We had our orders: rape all the sisters’ - Colonel Gadaffi’s forces are accused of violating at least 1,000 women trapped by fighting in the frontline city of Misrata

01 May 2011 - As casualties rise, the cry goes up: where is Nato? - As a new front line opens in the village of Aburwaya, rebels and civilians are pleading for more action from Nato

27 February 2011 - Replay: Marie Colvin live from Tripoli - Having found a way in to Tripoli by any means necessary, Marie Colvin came online to take your questions on the turmoil in Libya

Based on a webchat from August 2010 (republished 22 February 2012) - Marie Colvin: Q&A on life as a foreign correspondent

29 July 2007 - Leaving now not the way out of Iraq - One of the key strategists behind America’s last-ditch 'surge' in Iraq, Colonel HR McMaster explains his thinking to Marie Colvin, our award-winning correspondent, who has spent decades covering the Middle East and has witnessed the bloody reality of life in Baghdad.

Sri Lanka, 2001 - ‘I was taking a long time to die’ - Marie Colvin tells how she was ambushed and lost an eye trying to leave an area held by Tamil Tiger rebels. (Republished 26 February 2012)

02 January 2000 - Escape from Chechnya to a trial by ice - As Russian paratroopers cut off her last line of retreat, our correspondent Marie Colvin was forced to flee with Chechen help by the only route left open: a range of 12,000ft mountains

02 May 1999 - Massacre in a spring meadow - In a war of numerous atrocities Marie Colvin talks to over 100 witnesses of the most horrifying slaughter Kosovo has endured

East Timor, 1999 - Baby clothes on the barbed wire as militias close in - Marie Colvin was one of three foreign journalists who stayed with East Timorese refugees when they were besieged by Indonesian militias and troops in a United Nations compound in Dili after voting for independence. Her reporting was credited with shaming the UN into not deserting them entirely, thus saving thousands of lives. (Republished 26 February 2012)

Now Available: "On the Front Line: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin" — Buy this book from Amazon US or Amazon UK to learn more about Marie's life and work, and to benefit her Memorial Fund.

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