Freelance journalist Trisha Mukherjee, based in New York, has been named the winner of the fifth Rupert Cornwell Prize for Journalism. The award, which aims to support early-career journalists, includes a £5,000 grant for a proposed series of stories on the US-Mexican border.
The prize, established in memory of Rupert Cornwell, a distinguished foreign correspondent who died in 2017, is supported by The Independent and awarded by the Rupert Cornwell Trust. It funds projects covering regions Cornwell reported on, including North America, Europe and the Soviet Union.
Mukherjee said: “It’s a true honour to be awarded this year’s Rupert Cornwell prize. I am deeply inspired by Mr Cornwell’s tenacious and incisive journalism. Reporting from anywhere, he knew how to make each sentence sing.” She has contributed to The New York Times and Business Insider.
Susan Cornwell, Rupert’s widow and a former US congressional correspondent for Reuters, praised Mukherjee’s “topical, detailed and well-researched” proposal, adding: “Trisha’s pitch showed her to be a talented and sensitive writer. The judges were also impressed with her focus on global human rights and her desire to create a more compassionate world through stories.”
The judges also commended Antonia Langford’s innovative proposal on climate change and ecological disruption in Central Asia. Rupert Cornwell joined The Independent in 1986 and wrote for the title until his death, covering events from the decline of the USSR to the Trump phenomenon.
