Greetings from the Co-Chairmen of
the Hinzpeter Awards Organizing Committee

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  • Sun-seok Won
  • Co-Chairman of the HAOC
    (Chairperson of the May 18 Foundation)

  Greetings!
  I am Sunseok Won, co-chairman of the Hinzpeter Awards Organizing Committee.
  
  In May 1980, in the city of Gwangju, Korea, State violence destroyed human dignity. Gwangju citizens had to witness the physical humiliation of their neighbors and colleagues. Unable to help them, they were filled with misery and double-sided anguish. Despite this, they gathered courage, put their lives on the line to once again regain a sense of worth as human beings.
  
  Jürgen Hinzpeter’s reporting and video materials have contributed greatly for publications and high evaluations of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, being more than a mere ‘video reporting’. As the city of Gwangju made headlines worldwide thanks to the journalists who risked their lives in order to shed light on the uprising, the other names of Gwangju around the world will become “the History with a name of Truth,” thanks to the hard work and courage of journalists like all of you.
  
  Decades later, even now, democracy and human rights still face numerous hazards. Nevertheless, these values continue to move forward since the journalists report from the field around the world, even though their lives are threatened.
  
  Through the Hinzpeter Awards, we would like to express our respect for the arduous efforts and dedication of video journalists that listen to the voices of people yearning for democracy, human rights, and peace. We always remember your contributions. The citizens of Gwangju and people all over the world who remember Jürgen Hinzpeter, are praying for safety of you and your loved ones. Thank you for your courageous activities.
  
  

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  • Jun-young Rha
  • Co-Chairman of the HAOC
    28th President of the Korea Video Journalist Association

  Greetings.
  I am Jun-young Rha, the president of the Korea Video Journalist Association and co-chairperson of the 2023 Hinzpeter Awards Organizing Committee.
  
  The Hinzpeter Awards finds and awards video journalists who take various risks and strive to deliver the truth in the scene of democracy, human rights, and peace around the world. We want to create a new way of communicating and solidifying with world people at the center of the crisis.
  
  Celebrating its third ceremony this year, the Hinzpeter Awards selected the winner of the competitive and non-competitive categories that record the vivid appearance and voices of the scene hotter than this summer through international application and screening.
  
  The winner of the World at a Crossroads Award (the grand prize) is "Inside Russia: Putin's War at Home," which was covered and reported by four video journalists, Gesbeen Mohammad (resident in the UK), Aleksandra Odynova(Russia), Vasiliy Kolotilov(Russia), and Yuri Mikhailovich(Russia). The video covered the crisis of Russian democracy through brave coverage and interviews. The Russian regime has been repressing opposition to the war and criticism of the Putin regime's policies, and is accused of "fake news" and "anti-patriotic behavior" before and after the war in Ukraine.
  
  The winner of Award for News goes to "The Battle of Bakhmut" by Ben C. Solomon(USA), Adam Desiderio(USA), and Julia Kochetova(Ukraine) video journalist. Through the field reportage, three journalists recorded people remaining in their homes even at the scene of the daily life-threatening battles in the Bakhmut region, which has become the frontline of the Russia-Ukraine War. Also, it conveys the ambivalence of war where we have to fight to protect and make peace for the prosperity of the community.
  
  Award for Features goes to "Russian Soft Power in The CAR" by Carol Valade and Clément Di Roma. Following fellow journalists who lost their lives while covering the same issue, the two journalists covered and reported "Russian Soft Power in The CAR." Many African countries have experienced long-standing Western colonialism, and the political and economic influence of post-independence colonial empires has intensified ethnic and religious conflicts and frustrated opportunities for democratic state development. They, reporting on the Central African Republic, accused Russia and its proxy group, Wagner Group, of another imperial act that repeated this unfortunate African experience through collusion with political forces, cultural propaganda, and incitement.
  
  Four video journalists from the former Soviet Union Ukraine Central TV, Volodymyr Shevchenko, Yuriy Bordakov, Viktor Kripchenko, and Volodymyr Taranchenko, were selected as the winners of "the May Gwangju Award" in the non-competitive category. They reported the "Chernobyl Disaster," the worst nuclear accident in human history on April 26, 1986, on video at the risk of radiation exposure for telling the truth to the world. They risked their lives to cover nuclear accidents as video journalists, and the video became a valuable historical record that identifies the cause and responsibility of nuclear accidents and vividly informs all mankind of the dangers and seriousness. In addition, it is confirmed through the press records and activities shown by Chernobyl video journalists in 1986 that whether or not the disaster is properly recorded and informed will have a great impact on finding the cause of these problems in the future and making solutions.
  
  Hinzpeter's "Truth of May 18" drew the awareness and will of South Korean citizens for democratization, so we will try to make another power to form a solidarity of the international community and develop democracy, human rights, peace, and freedom of the press in South Korea.