Al Jazeera English Wins a Gold at the Venice TV Awards
Al Jazeera English’s 101 East documentary strand was named a Gold Winner at the Venice TV Awards in the category of ‘Cross Platform Programming’ for its interactive report, “The $5 Forests”.
The winners were announced online on 28th September. Al Jazeera English was up against BBC One, Sky News, HBO, ITV and CBC, among other networks.
The 101 East documentary investigated allegations of fraud and human rights abuses in a billion-dollar land deal in West Papua, where local tribespeople claim swathes of pristine rainforest were sold to a private company for as little as $5 a hectare without their consent. The documentary was adapted into an online interactive.
“This remote secretive corner of Indonesia is one of the toughest places to get information out of in the world today,” said correspondent Drew Ambrose. “101 East spent a year producing this investigation with Mongabay and the Gecko Project. Our interactive shows the growing problem of resource extraction in West Papua through maps, amazing pictures and solid evidence."
"It's a great honour to receive a Gold Award for The $5 Forests. Investigations like this require a great deal of time and resources and we're delighted with and humbled by the recognition,” added senior producer Nick Olle.
The channel’s coverage of the Coronavirus pandemic also received recognition with a nomination in the News category.
Al Jazeera English is a highly-decorated news channel having received numerous awards, including a 2018 Peabody Award for its documentary ‘The Cut’ and 2018 Emmy for its programme ‘Fault Lines’. In 2020 the network was named Broadcaster of the Year for the 4th time in a row by the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards.
