For the hundred days spent in Ukraine on the front lines, the journalist de The print Francesco Semprini won the first prize for written international media, awarded each year by the UNCA, United Nations Correspondents Associations. Professional journalist, he has lived in the United States since 2001. He has followed for The print the most important American political and economic events of the new century, and was a war correspondent in the main crisis theaters of the planet.
Semprini won the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize for his account of the threat of an atomic catastrophe in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Semprini followed the IAEA inspectors in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant threatened by bombing up to no man’s land where Russians and Ukrainians are fighting each other with artillery shots.
In the Zaporizhzhia trench
Francesco Semprini
The award was presented in the presence of the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, during a gala in New York.
Ukraine, the other Azovstal: the Zaporizhzhia steel mill which produces for Italy and welcomes refugees from Mariupol
FRANCESCO SEMPRINI
It is the second UNCA award won by the journalist de The print who had already won silver from Elizabeth Neuffer in 2014.
The war correspondent has the task of describing extreme, dangerous, complex situations with lucidity and trying to always keep attention high, without getting involved in emotion or overwhelmed by fear. «I try to tell the story of the war by taking the reader where I go, describing what I see and hear without filters. The goal is to produce a first-hand, direct, dry story that allows for an understanding of reality» Semprini recently explained.
The IAEA mission in Ukraine between provocations and security concerns
Francesco Semprini
«Being a war reporter requires a lot of courage and it is something that one must feel and which cannot be imposed. It happens to be very scared and not to know what will happen – said Semprini -. Specific preparation is required, which allows you to assess the circumstances and potential dangers. However, it is not always enough because there are many uncontrolled or uncontrollable variables, which contribute to making this journalistic activity different from all the others and the work carried out under these conditions is extraordinary».
Nuclear fear is growing in Ukraine
Francesco Semprini
“New rain of missiles and shots on Zaporizhzhia”: the nuclear power plant is back in the sights
Francesco Semprini
Martin Wetterauer: “We, the anti-Wagners, in Ukraine ready for the winter campaign”
by our correspondent Francesco Semprini
