29th Bayeux Award Calvados-Normandie for War Correspondents

The current red-hot geopolitical climate, with a war once again taking place on European soil less than a thousand kilometres from the frontiers of France, clearly demonstrates why the existence of the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents is so essential. It is needed now more than ever to provide help in understanding and making sense of the current conflicts.
During the week of 3 to 9 October the town of Bayeux, the Calvados Department and the Normandy Region together with their partners, will be inviting the foremost names in the world’s news organisations, leading photographers as well as reporters beginning their careers, to the first town in Europe to be liberated after D-Day. 350 war correspondents will arrive to explain their unconventional line of work to the general public, exchange with their colleagues in a relaxed environment, tell the inside story of war, provide an informed take on the darkest corners of the planet, select the best photos, TV, radio and written press reports, and also pay tribute to colleagues who have been imprisoned, have disappeared or been killed.
The programme for this event, unique in the world and attracting 40,000 visitors each year, includes: three discussion evenings, six new exhibitions, documentary screenings, films, countless educational activities for middle and high school students, a book fair, the unveiling of a new commemorative stone at the Reporters’ Memorial, an award ceremony evening and round tables. All of these events are open to everyone, free of charge, with the aim of helping to raise awareness of international current affairs among a broad audience, particularly young people, and continuing the essential work of media education.
The president of this year’s event, the eve of its 30th birthday, will be the German photojournalist Thomas Dworzak, who won an award here in 2000 and is a member of the Magnum Photos agency. The event will of course be looking closely at the invasion of Ukraine by Russia with an evening devoted to the conflict and two exhibitions, one of which, in the Bayeux Tapestry Chapel, presents the crucial work of the last two journalists to leave Mariupol. The return of the Taliban in Afghanistan will also occupy a central place in the event with the screening of a new documentary on the Thursday evening and an open air exhibition in the town centre, designed to challenge onlookers as they go about their day-to-day activities.