‘Really an unexpected and huge honor’: Herald’s Jacqueline Charles awarded for Haiti coverage
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Miami Herald reporter Jacqueline Charles — who has broken exclusive news and provided insightful reporting of the Caribbean for more than two decades — won a prestigious award Monday, the International Center for Journalists announced.
The ICFJ, a nonprofit based in Washington D.C. that promotes journalism worldwide since 1984, awarded Charles the ICFJ Excellence in International Reporting Award. She will collect the honor at an in-person Tribute to Journalists gala in D.C. on Nov. 2, alongside other recognized journalists.
At the gala, which will also be live streamed, the ICFJ will present a tribute video about Charles. She will deliver remarks.
On Monday, she thanked the ICFJ.
“This is really an unexpected and huge honor; not just for me but for the Miami Herald and McClatchy’s relentless commitment to telling the Haiti story,” she said in an email. “We write not for awards but to tell the stories that are overlooked or under-reported, so when you are recognized by your own colleagues, it speaks volumes and I am grateful to ICFJ for this recognition.”
“There are so many crises around the globe; the conflict in Sudan, the war in Ukraine, to name a few. So to be recognized for my Haiti coverage, gives me hope that this story and the importance of telling it, will also capture the attention of other journalists and policy makers about its importance,” Charles added.
This year, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer will receive the ICFJ Founders Award winner. Jonathan Capehar of The Washington Post and MSNBC will serve as the emcee.
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Riad Kobaissi of Lebanon, an investigative journalist whose revelations of corruption foreshadowed the Beirut port explosion, and Mariam Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso, who has shown the impact of extremism in West Africa on women and children, will each get the ICFJ Knight Award.
Born in the Turks and Caicos Islands of Haitian descent, Charles began her career at the Herald as an intern at age 14. Since then, she has spent most of her career covering Haiti, the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere, and other countries of the Caribbean, often traveling for weeks to the islands.
Her widely read stories have shed light on hurricanes and other natural disasters, the aftermath of the 2021 murder of former President Jovenel Moïse and the Haitian migration to the U.S.
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“All of these journalists exemplify why courageous reporting on the most important issues of our time – from war and terrorism to crime and corruption – is so vital,” said ICFJ President Sharon Moshavi, in the Monday news release. “They have risked their lives to bring us difficult, heart-wrenching stories. And their work has had an impact, focusing the world’s attention on suffering, ensuring that the most vulnerable get help, and holding the powerful to account.”
The National Association of Black Journalists named Charles the Journalist of the Year for the second time in 2022. She was awarded a Maria Moors Cabot Prize — the most prestigious award for coverage of the Americas — in 2018. She was also a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake that killed at least 200,000 people.
