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Environment reporter makes Guardian pullout

An environment reporter on a Midlands daily saw her work featured in a national newspaper pullout after being shortlisted in an annual competition.

Mary Griffin, from the Coventry Telegraph, was runner-up in the Guardian’s second International Development Journalism Competition which celebrates the best in journalistic writing about issues affecting the developing world.

After initial judging, two shortlists comprising eight amateur and eight professional writers were sent on journalism assignments after being matched with a non-governmental organisation which chose a subject matter.

Mary, who has been with the Telegraph 18 months, travelled to Dhaka with One World Action, a small London-based operation and one of only a handful working to tackle caste discrimination in South Asia.

Her story about discrimination, the only one in the shortlist by a local press reporter, featured in a special pullout supplement with Monday’s Guardian.

The 28-year-old said: “It’s been one of the most challenging stories I’ve ever written – and one of the most rewarding too.

“I’d never been to Asia before the competition so Bangladesh was a real eye-opener and a bit of an assault on the senses.

“It was a steep learning curve because I knew nothing about caste discrimination before I was given the assignment, and as an environment reporter I was working well outside my comfort zone.”

Coventry Telegraph editor Darren Parkin added: “So many journalists these days seem content with simply being good at what they do – Mary is not among that number.

“Instead, she finds her job satisfaction with excelling, as her Bangladesh report so perfectly demonstrates.

“We are all very proud of her at the Coventry Telegraph, safe in the knowledge that she sets the high standards we are all aiming for.”

Judges for the competition included Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow, the Guardian’s managing editor Elisabeth Ribbans and Channel Five newsreader Natasha Kaplinski, who announced the results at a ceremony at Royal College of Arts in London.

  • Mary’s feature about Dkaha can be read on the Guardian website, as can her piece on climate change in Burkina Faso for which she was shortlisted.