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Reports from trouble spots shortlisted for Peck awards

By Paul McNally

Dispatches from freelance broadcast journalists in Kenya, Somalia, Burma, Palestine and Afghanistan have made the shortlist for this year’s Rory Peck Awards.

The awards, which recognise the work of freelance foreign journalists in danger zones, will be announced at a ceremony in London on 13 November.

In the news category, two pieces broadcast by Al Jazeera English are shortlisted. Clifford Derrick is nominated for a report from a notorious Kenyan slum in the height of the post-election chaos and Subina Shresthra is shortlisted for a piece about the survivors of the Burmese cyclone.

Also shortlisted for the news award is Abdullahi Farah Duguf’s footage for Channel 4 showing scenes of violence and destruction in the Somali capital of Mogadishu last year.

In the features category, two pieces from Afghanistan are shortlisted. Tim Hetherington’s report for ABC faces competition from Frontline Club founder Vaughan Smith, who is nominated for a piece on what it is like to be a British infantry soldier in Helmand province. The footage was broadcast by BBC Newsnight.

A film on daily life in Gaza under a Hamas government, filmed by Rodrigo Vasquez and broadcast by Channel 4, also makes the shortlist for the features award.

The Rory Peck Trust was set up in 1995 to provide financial support to freelance newsgatherers worldwide and the families of those who are killed or seriously injured doing their job.

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The awards are judged by a panel of broadcasters including BBC head of newsgathering Fran Unsworth, Channel 4 head of news Dorothy Byrne and veteran TV journalist David Lloyd.

Rory Peck Trust director Tina Carr said: “It is easy to assume that, like us, freelance camera people are merely observers to the tragedies, disasters and conflicts that they are sent out to cover. Sadly, however, this is rarely the case.

“These awards acknowledge the immense courage that freelancers take to provide us with an unbiased perspective of worldwide events.”

News finalists

Clifford Derrick
Report from a Kenyan slum, broadcast by Al Jazeera English

Abdullahi Farah Duguf
Two weeks in Mogadishu, Somalia, broadcast by Channel 4 News

Subina Shrestha
Report from the Irrawaddy Delta in Burma, broadcast by Al Jazeera English

Features finalists

Rodrigo Vasquez
Inside Hamas, shot in Gaza, broadcast by Channel 4

Tim Hetherington
The Other War, filmed in Afghanistan, broadcast by ABC

Vaughan Smith
Grenadiers fighting in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, broadcast by Frontline Club and BBC Newsnight

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