On July 1, the Worldwide Women’s Media Basis (IWMF) introduced the recipients of its Courage in Journalism Awards. The thirty sixth annual award acknowledges girls who’ve sought out and reported on the reality throughout the globe, significantly in difficult and hostile environments. This yr’s honorees are Afghan journalist Sana Atef, Brazilian investigative journalist Juliana Dal Piva, Sudanese British worldwide broadcast journalist Yousra Elbagir, and American producer and author Maritza L. Félix.

Atef, who reviews beneath a pseudonym, writes for the non-state information outlet Zan Occasions on girls’s points in Afghanistan, with a specific deal with harassment of girls heads-of-households, compelled marriages, little one abuse, and extra. Dal Piva has uncovered human rights abuses and corruption in Brazil, reporting for the Latin American Heart for Journalistic Investigations (CLIP) and ICL Notícias. Elbagir is Sky Information‘s Africa correspondent, having coated warfare zones and civil unrest throughout the continent. Félix is the founder and director of Spanish-language information service Conecta Arizona, the place she focuses on cross-border populations in Mexico and social points in Arizona.

Lastly, Aynur Elgunesh, an Azerbaijani journalist and editor-in-chief of Meydan TV, acquired the Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award, which acknowledges a reporter annually who’s wrongfully imprisoned or detained. Elgunesh was arrested in December 2024, alongside 5 Meydan TV staff on false expenses of smuggling. She stays in jail.

“Every awardee has persevered to inform the tales of people that have been censored and repressed with care and fortitude,” the 2025 awards choice committee mentioned in an announcement despatched to Teen Vogue. Editor in Chief of Teen Vogue, Versha Sharma, is on the IWMF board of administrators, however was not on the awards choice committee. “It’s an honor to acknowledge these 5 girls for his or her excellent contributions to journalism.”

As girls and nonbinary reporters navigate rising threats to freedom of press in America and past, the Courage in Journalism Awards shine gentle upon the bravery it takes to withstand such dangers. “The IWMF honors Aynur, Juliana, Maritza, Sana and Yousra this yr due to the lengths they’ve gone to report and the percentages they’ve confronted to cowl points that outline as we speak’s world,” IWMF Government Director Elisa Lees Muñoz mentioned in an announcement. “In a time when press freedom is beneath siege, the braveness of those girls cuts via silence and worry. Journalism like theirs doesn’t simply inform — it defends democracy.”

Study extra about IWMF and its work for ladies and nonbinary journalists worldwide here.