12 Sep 16 | Awards, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Press Releases
Also available in: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Turkish
Index on Censorship opens nominations for the 2017 Freedom of Expression Awards and Fellowship
- Awards honour journalists, campaigners, digital activists and artists fighting censorship globally
- Nominate at indexoncensorship.org/nominations
- Nominations are open from 12 September to 11 October 2016
Beginning today, nominations for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship are open. Now in their 17th year, the awards honour some of the world’s most remarkable free expression heroes. Previous winners include Chinese digital activists GreatFire, Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat and Angolan investigative journalist Rafael Marques de Morais.
Index invites the general public, civil society organisations, non-profit groups and media organisations to nominate anyone (individuals or organisations) who they believe should celebrated and supported in their work tackling censorship worldwide.
There are four categories in Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards:
- Arts for artists (any form) and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression.
- Campaigning for activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression.
- Digital Activism for innovative uses of technology to circumvent censorship and enable free and independent exchange of information.
- Journalism for courageous, high impact and determined journalism (any form) that exposes censorship and threats to free expression.
Relevant nominees are also eligible for the Music in Exile Fellowship, which supports musicians whose work is under threat.
As awards fellows, all winners receive one residential week of networking, advanced training and consultancy in London (April 2017) followed by 12 months of bespoke support to amplify and sustain their valuable work for free expression worldwide.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index, said: “The Freedom of Expression Awards not only showcase but also strengthen groups and individuals doing brave and brilliant work to enhance freedom of expression around the world. These are true heroes – people who often have to overcome immense obstacles and face great danger just for the right to express themselves. I urge everyone to nominate their free expression champion – make sure their voice is heard.”
The 2017 awards shortlist will be announced in late January. The winners will be announced in London at a gala ceremony on 19 April 2017 at The Unicorn Theatre.
For more information on the awards and fellowship, please contact [email protected] or call +44 (0)207 963 7262.
Also available in: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Turkish
24 Nov 15 | News and features, Press Releases, United Kingdom
Among the cartoons available in the auction are original artworks by Zulkiflee Anwar Haque (Zunar); Martin Rowson; Xavier Bonilla (Bonil); and Doaa El Adl (clockwise from top left).
Index on Censorship is delighted to announce the auction of an incredible collection of cartoons that celebrate the power of art to challenge suppression. The auction will help fund our work supporting persecuted writers and artists worldwide.
Make a new donation to Index before the end of December to receive a limited-edition postcard set of 10 cartoons created by some of the world’s top political cartoonists
Earlier this year, Index commissioned 10 of the world’s leading cartoonists to pen a work on the theme of free expression. The cartoons are powerful tributes to the role of art, drawn by world-renowned artists from every continent: from a US Pulitzer Prize winner to a Syrian cartoonist beaten in retaliation for his work.
Beginning Tuesday, 24 November 2015, bidders will be able to enter bids for hand-drawn artwork by:
Xavier Bonilla (Bonil) – Ecuador
Regularly denounced, threatened and fined, Ecuador’s Bonil has earned the title “the pursued cartoonist” for his work. For 30 years he has critiqued, lampooned and ruffled the feathers of Ecuador’s political leaders, in the process earning a reputation as one of the wittiest and most fearless cartoonists in South America.
Kevin Kallaugher (Kal) – United States
US artist Kal is the editorial cartoonist for The Economist and The Baltimore Sun and his work has appeared in more than 100 publications worldwide including Le Monde, Der Spiegel, The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, and The Washington Post. He has won numerous awards, including the 2014 Grand Prix for Cartoon of the Year.
Signe Wilkinson (Signe) – United States
The first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, Signe has won several other awards for her work. She comments on topical political issues and is best known for her daily cartoons in The Philadelphia Daily News.
Jean Plantureux (Plantu) – France
Plantu is the chief cartoonist for France’s Le Monde and founder of Cartooning for Peace, a global network of cartoonists. This drawing is a rare, signed copy of the world-famous cartoon Plantu drew for Le Monde the day after the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
Martin Rowson – UK
A former Cartoonist Laureate, political satirist Martin Rowson contributes cartoons to The Guardian and the Daily Mirror as well as Index on Censorship magazine. His work has earned him several awards, including the prize for the Best Humour and Satire Book of the Year at this year’s Political Book Awards.
Ali Farzat – Syria
Ali Farzat, a former Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award winner, came to global attention in 2011 when he was pulled from his car and beaten by Syrian security forces who broke both his hands. When Kuwaiti authorities closed the offices of his newspaper, Al-Watan, earlier this year Ferzat was forced to buy new materials and redrew this cartoon for us from scratch.
Doaa El Adl (Doaa) – Egypt
Doaa is a celebrated female artist in the Arab world – well know for her fearless political work. She has often tackled freedom of speech, human rights and women’s rights issues, wining numerous awards as well as controversy and even charges of blasphemy for her work.
Zulkiflee Anwar Haque (Zunar) – Malaysia
Zunar is an award-winning Malaysian political cartoonist who has been repeatedly targeted by authorities. Five of his cartoon books have been banned by the Malaysian government for carrying content “detrimental to public order” and thousands confiscated. He is currently facing up to 43 years in jail for mocking the government.
David Rowe – Australia
A three-time winner of the Stanley Award for Australia’s Cartoonist of the Year, David Rowe has worked for the Australian Financial Review for 22 years. Rowe’s bright and colourful watercolours are famously merciless.
Damien Glez – (Glez) – Burkina Faso
Glez’s cartoons regularly appear across three continents, including his own weekly satirical newspaper in Burkina Faso: Le Journal du Jeudi . He co-created pan-African monthly satirical Le Marabout, writes his own comic strip Divine Comedy and has won numerous awards internationally..
Bids must be placed by noon on Monday, 14 December 2015.
The auction is being hosted by Givergy.
15 Sep 15 | Awards, Campaigns, mobile, Press Releases
- Awards honour journalists, campaigners and artists fighting censorship globally
- Judges will include poet and playwright Wole Soyinka, pianist James Rhodes and human rights lawyer Kirsty Brimelow
- Nominate at indexoncensorship.org/nominations
- Nominations are open from 15 September to 19 October 2015
Beginning today, nominations for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards 2016 are open. Now in their 16th year, the awards have honoured some of the world’s most remarkable free expression heroes – from Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim to Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat to education activist Malala Yousafzai.
The awards shine a spotlight on individuals fighting to speak out in the most dangerous and difficult of conditions.
Index invites the public, NGOs and media organisations to nominate anyone they believe deserves to be part of this impressive peer group: a hall of fame of some of those at the forefront of tackling censorship worldwide.
There are four categories in Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards:
• Arts for artists and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression.
• Campaigning for activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression.
• Digital Activism for innovative uses of technology to circumvent censorship and enable free and independent exchange of information.
• Journalism for courageous, high impact and determined journalism that exposes censorship and threats to free expression.
Winners will be flown to London for the gala ceremony, which will take place at The Unicorn Theatre in London on 13 April 2016. In 2015, the ceremony was hosted by comedian Shappi Khorsandi, with awards presented by judges and special guests including Martha Lane Fox, Mariane Pearl, Elif Shafak and Keir Starmer.
Winners also become awards fellows and receive support to amplify their work for free expression. As fellows, winners become part of a world-class network of campaigners, activists and artists sharing best practice on tackling censorship threats internationally.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index, said: “The Freedom of Expression Awards turn up the volume on the censored and silenced. I encourage everyone, no matter where they are in the world, to nominate a free expression hero so their voices can be heard.”
The 2016 awards shortlist will be announced in late January 2016.
Judges in 2016 will include Nobel prize-winning Nigerian poet and playwright Wole Soyinka; Kirsty Brimelow QC, a human rights barrister and chair of The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales; and classical pianist James Rhodes, whose memoir Instrumental was published earlier this year after the UK Supreme Court overturned a publication ban.
Rhodes said: “The Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko once wrote: ‘When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie’ – and to honour those who fight to speak out and break that silence is a privilege. Having experienced first hand the terrifying impact of censorship, I’m thrilled to be able to play a small part in acknowledging the bravery of those who continue to express themselves in the face of unimaginable oppression.”
For more information on the awards, please contact [email protected] or call +44 (0)207 260 2660.
26 Aug 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Syrian political cartoonist Ali Farzat was abducted for several hours yesterday while driving home from his office in Damascus. The masked members of security forces broke Farzat’s left hand, which he uses to draw his famous cartoons, and burnt him with lit cigarettes before dumping him on the side of the road with a bag over his head. Some of his drawings as well as his belongings were confiscated.
