Announcing our Climate Journalism Award jury

For this first edition, the jury will include four experienced journalists and experts in climate journalism, solutions reporting, misinformation and data-led investigations. 

In no particular order:

Eva Constantaras, Data journalist and trainer

Eva is a data journalist for Lighthouse Reports and Internews specialised in building collaborative investigative teams. These teams have reported from across Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa on accountability issues ranging from algorithmic bias and food insecurity to extractive industries and sanctions evasion. As a Google Data Journalism Scholar and a Fulbright Fellow, she developed a course for investigative data journalism in high-risk environments.

Data-driven climate journalism that excites me are investigations that both expose and transparently document the hidden causes of climate change and prioritise the impact on vulnerable communities. The stories weave together a compelling character-driven narrative with careful explanations and clear visualisations in a product that is both ambitious and accessible to the general public.

-Eva Constantaras, Data journalist and trainer

Alan Smith Head of Visual and Data Journalism, Financial Times

Alan leads the FT's newsroom team of data reporters and visual journalists. A data visualisation specialist, his TEDx talk ‘Why You Should Love Statistics’ was featured on TED.com in 2017. Alan is the author of How Charts Work, a handbook on designing with data using the FT's principles. Before he joined the FT, he was head of digital content at the UK Office for National Statistics, where he was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to official statistics.

One of the biggest challenges for journalists is to relate the bigger picture of climate change to the individual. Creating empathy and understanding at personal and local levels is essential if we're going to contextualise the global story.

-Alan Smith Head of Visual and Data Journalism, Financial Times

Stella Levantesi, journalist, photographer and author

Stella is a climate journalist, photographer and author. Her book “I Bugiardi del Clima” (“Climate Liars”; Laterza Editori, 2021) investigates the history of climate change denial and obstruction strategies to climate action. She is also the author of “Gaslit,” a column on DeSmog about fossil fuel propaganda and misinformation. Her work has been published in The Guardian, Nature Italy, DeSmog, The New Republic, Deutsche Welle and Voxeurop, among other publications. Levantesi’s TEDx Talk on climate change denial is “The Dominance Illusion: Chi Mente Sul Clima e Perché,” (“…Who Lies About the Climate and Why”). Levantesi has an MA from New York University’s Journalism Institute. 

Climate stories investigating disinformation and obstruction efforts on climate are ever more necessary, as well as journalism which shows how the climate crisis is already affecting people's lives all over the world, and aspires to push for action and hold key players accountable.

-Stella Levantesi, journalist, photographer and author

Peter Yeung, journalist

Peter Yeung is an award-winning freelance journalist, covering climate often through a critical, solutions-orientated lens. He specialises in on-the-ground reporting about under-covered issues involving and giving a voice to the world’s most marginalised groups, and has filed stories from across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, usually with a camera, drone, and new piece of tech in hand. He writes for a number of publications including The Guardian, The BBC, National Geographic and the Washington Post. Peter is a two-time European Journalism Centre grantee, and has also received recognition from The Covering Climate Now Awards, The Society of Environmental Journalists, and the Pulitzer Center, among others, and was a Kiplinger Fellow for Climate Reporting in 2022.

Climate is the single most important story in the world, influencing almost every aspect of our lives. As journalists, over the coming months and years, we have a unique opportunity to scrutinise, illuminate and impact the ways in which communities, institutions and governments are navigating the climate crisis. We must grab it with both hands.

-Peter Yeung, journalist