Lindsey Hilsum

“Nowadays, freelancers are under more pressure than ever, both financially and in terms of safety. I have always admired how the Rory Peck Trust provides support to freelancers and celebrates their work with the Awards.”

Lindsey was based in Kenya as a freelancer at one time and has been a supporter of the Rory Peck Trust for many years. She has covered the major wars and refugee movements of the past three decades, including Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. She has also reported extensively on the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya, from Iran and Zimbabwe, and was Channel 4 News China Correspondent from 2006 to 2008.

She is the author of In Extremis; the Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin and has been Royal Television Society Journalist of the Year. She has also won the Charles Wheeler Award, the James Cameron Award and recognition from the One World Media and Amnesty International Awards. Before becoming a journalist, she was an aid worker, first in Latin America and then in Africa.

“I used to be a freelancer so I know what it’s like to screw your courage to the sticking place and ring up an editor – and then do it again when you’re turned down.”