Ukrainian journalist receives Pulitzer Prize for the Young

A 23-year-old journalist and video producer from Kharkiv, Vasylisa Stepanenko, who works for the Associated Press, has become a laureate of the Livingston Awards 2023.

This follows from a statement by the organizers, Wallace House.

The journalist received the award in the International Reporting category for a series of video materials called The Year of War, which exposes the crimes of the Russian army against the civilian population of Ukraine.

The Livingston Awards are presented to the best journalists under age 35 and are called the Pulitzer for the Young.

“The best reporters keep looking, asking, and documenting when they’re told there’s nothing more to see,” Lynette Clemetson, director of the Livingston Awards, said at this year’s awards ceremony.

“In a year that featured many examples of the amazing and powerful work of journalists covering the war in Ukraine, Vasylisa‘s stories had a unique immediacy and penetrating power that vividly testified to the consequences of the war in her country. Her work undeniably influenced the world’s understanding of this struggle. And the tremendous personal courage she displayed in the face of incredible danger underscores the high stakes involved in telling the truth from the scene,” said award jury judge Matt Murray.

Other winners of this year’s prize were American journalists Anna Wolfe for investigating the misappropriation of Mississippi state funds and Caitlin Dickerson for analyzing the policy of the American government during the presidency of Donald Trump regarding the removal of children from families.

During the awarding ceremony of the winners, there was a speech by Matthew Luxmoore, a finalist of the award and a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who covers the events in Russia and Ukraine. He spoke in support of his friend and colleague, the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been illegally imprisoned in Russia since March 29 of this year.