Reporter Receives Accolade

Sabuhi Mammadli, a regular IWPR contributor, has won Azerbaijan’s prestigious yearly Media Key prize in the Best Reporting category for a series of articles published after he attended a Cross Caucasus Journalism Network seminar in March.

The prize, which is famous among Azeri journalists, was created in 1997 by the New Generation Journalists’ Union, and is supported by the League of Democratic Journalists and the Union of Journalists of Azerbaijan. The prize was awarded on July 22, the anniversary of the first Azeri newspaper, which appeared 134 years ago.

Mammadli entered his Caucasus Diary articles, which were published in the Azadliq (Freedom) newspaper, into the competition.

“There was a lot of interesting reporting from many good, rich cities in America and Europe. But we chose an article about the difficulties of life in the Caucasus, since the problems of this region are closer to us. Such reporting requires taking risks and the author is well-known for his risk-taking,” said Irada Tunjay, a member of the jury and editor-in-chief of the Adalyat (Fairness) newspaper.

“It was interesting and sad to learn from Sabuhi Mammadli’s reports about the difficulties involved in just getting from one part of the Caucasus to another.”

Mammadli, 38, has worked in the media since 1992. He started out as a special correspondent for the government newspaper Azerbaijan, when the National Front ruled the country. Then he worked as editor of the then-popular newspapers Mukhalifet (Opposition), 525th newspaper, Resonance, Express, Yeni Musavat (New Equality). He has worked as a freelancer for about a year.

He has reported for IWPR since 2007 and written articles for the Caucasus Reporting Service, including pieces about the Nakhichevan region, Russian villages in northern Azerbaijan, the Turkish cities of Kars and Igdir and more.

For more information, please contact the IWPR Managing Editor.