Bagassi Koura, 2014 winner
Bagassi Koura, of VOA’s French-to-Africa Service, provided exceptional coverage of the 2013 elections in Mali. In the face of considerable dangers, Bagassi was prolific in his reporting, providing daily radio pieces, video reporting and a multimedia blog with video, photos, audio, and text recounting details of the campaign and voting. His coverage included the peace treaty between Tuaregs and the Malian government.
Colleague and fellow Burke Award honoree for this year, Anne Look, described what it is like to work with both Koura and Fall: “West Africa has faced and is facing unprecedented challenges. There is no how-to manual on how to cover this. I feel so fortunate to be able to collaborate with colleagues like Idriss and Bagassi, who really want to get out in the trenches and listen to people.”
VOA Director David Ensor said of the three: “The winners of this year’s Burke Award represent the very best of VOA journalism, and have contributed immeasurably to VOA’s coverage of violent extremism and insurgencies in Africa.”