7 May 2014

Guillermo Galdos wins Journalist of the Year at OWM awards

Latin America Correspondent

Guillermo Galdos is named Journalist of the Year at the One World Media Awards after he tracked down and interviewed “La Tuta” – the drug lord of one of Mexico’s most feared cartels.

Galdos beat off competition from Ian Pannell of BBC News at Ten and Katrina Manson from the FT to land the award. He travelled to Honduras, Brazil and Mexico for Channel 4 News in 2013, producing vibrant reports that combined hard hitting journalism with a filmmaker’s sensibility. His reports are some of Channel 4 News’ highest viewed pieces, and have had a big impact in Latin and South America where many of these issues go unreported.

Meanwhile, ITN Productions was also a winner on the night, picking up the television award for its Dispatches film ‘Children on the Frontline’. Shot by award-winning photojournalist Marcel Mettelsiefen and directed by BAFTA-winning Anthony Wonke, the film focuses on the lives of children caught up in the war in Syria. Also nominated in the Television category were a non ITN-produced Dispatches on North Korea, and Al Jazeera’s Orphans of the Sahara.

Also nominated at this year’s award ceremony was Channel 4 News reporter Jamal Osman for his story of mental health issues in Somalia. Osman, looking for what would have been his third successive One World Media Award, was unsuccessful this year, losing out to Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution by director Matthew VanDyke.