The One Young World Journalist of the Year Award was created in 2020 to recognise five ground-breaking journalists under the age of 35 from around the world. Launched again this year, it continues to celebrate courageous young leaders who have shown considerable commitment to inspiring and empowering others through their work, and changing the way stories are reported in often turbulent journalistic landscapes.
The expert judging panel has been invited by One Young World to choose five winners who have created meaningful global impact through exceptionally crafted reporting and who are passionate about the rights to freedom of thought, expression and speech.
The judges for the 2022 award are:
Biz Stone
Biz Stone is an American entrepreneur best known as co-founder of Twitter, Medium, and Jelly. A progenitor of social media, Stone has been developing large scale systems that facilitate the open exchange of information for more than twenty years. Stone is an investor, board director, and philanthropist. In 2017, Stone returned to Twitter at the request of Jack Dorsey, its Co-Founder and CEO.
TIME listed him as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” The Economist recognized him with their annual “Innovation Award,” INC named him “Entrepreneur of the Decade,” CIPR honoured him for “Leadership in The Forefront of Developing New Media,” and GQ Magazine saw fit to label him “Nerd of the Year.” In 2019 Vanity Fair featured him as a “Bright Spark”.
Ilia Calderón
Ilia Calderón is co-anchor of Univision Network’s flagship evening newscast, “Noticiero Univision” and she also co-hosts Univision’s primetime newsmagazine, “Aquí y Ahora.” Calderón is the first Afro-Latina anchoring an evening newscast for a major broadcast network in the United States. She previously reached a similar milestone in her native Colombia, as the first black woman to ever host a national news program in her country: “Noticiero CMI.”
Prior to joining Jorge Ramos on “Noticiero Univision” in 2017, she was co-anchor of Univision’s “Noticiero Univision Edición Nocturna”, before that she was co-anchor of Univision’s “Primer Impacto” (First Impact). Prior to that, she served as co-anchor of the weekend edition, “Primer Impacto Fin de Semana”. Before joining Univision, Calderon co-anchored Telemundo’s weekend national newscast and Telemundo Internacional, where she interviewed numerous prominent politicians and celebrities, among them former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, and world-famous singer/songwriter Shakira.
As a respected journalist, Calderón has received several recognitions during her professional career, including an Emmy® Award. In 2005, she received the “Premio Orquídea” award, which honours Colombians abroad, for Best International Journalist of the Year. In 2002, she was named one of the 100 most important Hispanic journalists by the Hispanic Media 100 organization.
James Chau
James Chau is an international broadcaster and Host of The China Current.
He has earned a special reputation for his interviews with leaders in politics, science, and health, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, and Muhammad Yunus. He has also interviewed Winnie Mandela, Christine Lagarde, Jane Goodall, Paul Kagame, Elton John, and Arianna Huffington, among others. He hosts The China Current, a multimedia platform launched in 2019 that explores the relationship between humanity and our shared global future. Since its launch, The China Current has had more than 150 million lifetime views and is followed online by over 700,000 people worldwide.
In 2015, James was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. In 2016, he was appointed World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goals and Health. He previously served as UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador.
He has chaired and moderated international events led by Bill Gates, Angela Merkel, Jack Ma, Justin Trudeau, and Laura Bush. Born in London, James studied at the Royal Academy of Music, graduated from Cambridge University, and attended the Harvard Kennedy School on an executive education program.
Kamal Ahmed
Kamal Ahmed is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The News Movement, a new media business focused on social media channels, new audiences and digital consumption.
Between 2018 and 2021, Kamal was Editorial Director of BBC News, working across news strategy, daily news and planning, commissioning, analysis, visual and audio journalism and new forms of digital content. He was a member of the Newsgroup Board and the Sounds board.
Between 2016 and 2018 Kamal was Economics Editor at BBC News, leading economics coverage for the corporation. He joined the BBC in April 2014 as Business Editor from the Telegraph Media Group where he was Executive Business Editor responsible for The Sunday Telegraph's business and economics coverage.
Between 2007 and 2009 Kamal was Group Director, Communications, at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and before that was Executive Editor, News, at The Observer. Between 2000 and 2004, Kamal was Political Editor of The Observer, covering Tony Blair’s premiership. He has also worked at The Guardian and Scotland on Sunday.
A Leeds University Graduate in Political Studies, Kamal’s first book, The Life and Times of a Very British Man, was published by Bloomsbury in 2018.
Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson
Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson is a Pacific Island journalist and scholar who has spent over 20 years reporting on climate change, human rights, gender and culture from an island perspective. She was a Reuters Fellow at the University of Oxford where she wrote a pioneering study on the coverage of the climate crisis in the Pacific islands.
Lagipoiva is the host of "The Impossible Choice" a series by The Guardian, Pacific Project focusing on the existential nature of the climate crisis. She is the recipient of a National Environment Award by the Government of Samoa recognizing her work in climate journalism. She is a mentor and advocate for Pacific journalism and works with the International Federation of Journalists, Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and New Narratives to strengthen and support journalism in the Pacific islands.
Stephanie Busari
A journalist with 20 years of experience in global newsrooms, Stephanie Busari is the pioneer and head of CNN's first digital and multi-platform bureau in Nigeria. She is a two-time Emmy nominated journalist and editor.
Stephanie is recognized for her commitment to justice and speaking up for the voiceless. In April 2016, she exclusively obtained the ‘proof of life’ video which showed that the kidnapped Nigerian Chibok schoolgirls were still alive. The evidence kickstarted crucial negotiations, resulting in the release of over 100 schoolgirls from the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Stephanie earned a Gracie Award in 2017 for her fearless contribution to retrieving the Chibok girls, alongside a Peabody Award in 2015 as a field producer for CNN’s coverage of the Chibok schoolgirls. Stephanie has also received an “Outstanding Woman in the Media" accolade.
The United Nations celebrates Stephanie as one of the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (2017) and she is recognized as one of the 25 most powerful female journalists in Africa (2020 and 2021). In 2020, she was selected for the prestigious Maurice Greenberg fellowship at Yale University.