Free Media Awards 2022
Nataliya Gumenyuk - Ukraine

Journalist and author Nataliya Gumenyuk is awarded a Free Media Award for her truth-seeking reports on the horrors of war from a variety of locations such as Kharkiv, Bucha and Mykolajiv in Ukraine.

With integrity, humanity and depth, she gives a voice to the victims of war. Gumenyuk also makes astute observations about the resistance in the Ukrainian community. She specialises in foreign affairs and conflict reporting, and recently founded the Public Interest Journalism Lab (PIJL), a Ukrainian media organisation made up of journalists and sociologists who work together to forge new approaches to journalism. PIJL has concentrated on reporting from the front lines since the Russian invasion began, and co-founded The Reckoning Project – which creates in-depth media content and provides legal evidence to build war crime cases. Gumenyuk’s texts have also been published in The Rolling Stone, Die Zeit, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Washington Post. She is the author of several books, including The Lost Island: Tales from the Occupied Crimea (2020).