On 3 June 2025, the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon and the Samir Kassir Foundation announced the results of the 20^th edition of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, in a ceremony held at the Sursock Palace Gardens, in Beirut. This Award, established and funded by the European Union, is recognised internationally as a flagship prize for press freedom and the most prestigious journalism award in the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region. Since 2006, the Award ceremony has been held annually to commemorate the anniversary of Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir’s assassination on 2 June 2005 in Beirut, and celebrate his life, his values, and his memory.

The Samir Kassir Award is open to professional journalists from eighteen countries of North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf. This year, a record 372 journalists participated in the competition, hailing from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. 125 candidates competed in the Opinion Piece category, 157 in the Investigative Article category, and 90 in the Audiovisual News Report category. The winner in each of the three categories is awarded a prize of €10,000. Each of the short-listed finalists per category receive a €1,000 prize.

The winners of the 2025 Samir Kassir Award are:

– Investigative Reporting Category: Marina Milad, from Egypt, born in 1994, for her investigation titled “’I Have Become Shameful’: Syrian Women Leave Prison with a “Stigma”’, published in Masrawy on 25 February 2025. This report reveals that after enduring torture, rape, and dehumanization behind bars, many Syrian women emerge into a society that greets them with stigma, rejection, and renewed trauma, instead of empathy and genuine support.

– Audiovisual News Reporting Category: Khalil Alashavi, from Syria, born in 1983, for his report titled “Syria: Children in a Never-Ending War”, produced by Tiny Hands and launched on 15 March 2025. The report focuses on the continued plight of Syrian children in their war-torn country, and the years of stolen innocence, which a regime change alone cannot address.