Television: Current Affairs Reporting (less than 20 minutes) Winners

Stephen Dupont and Jacques Menasche, Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV, “Brothers of Kabul”

“Brothers of Kabul” is a timely story about Afghanistan’s exploding heroin epidemic. Film-maker and photojournalist Stephen Dupont and writer Jacques Menasche looked at the country’s drug problem through the lives of brothers Reza and Hussein – homeless heroin addicts and nomads among the capital’s soaring population of drug users.

The pair self-funded their independent project and travelled to Kabul to shoot semi-undercover. Well written and beautifully shot under incredibly dangerous circumstances, Dupont and Menasche gave a very human insight into the dilemma of the
herion trade in Afghanistan.

Stephen Dupont is an award-winning photojournalist and documentary film-maker. His reportage has earned him a Robert Capa Gold Medal citation, and first place in World Press Photo and Pictures of the Year International. He is an official war artist with the Australian War Memorial.

Jacques Menasche is a New York-based essayist and freelance journalist who has written about culture and conflict around the world. His work includes dispatches from the war in Afghanistan, the Intifada in the Middle East, and New York on September 11. Since 2001 he has been a staff writer for the international photographic agency Contact Press Images.

Judges’ comments
An absolute standout. Riveting television, its simple technique underlined the power of observational journalism, which they let unravel and tell the story.