The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) today announced its 2026 Knight International Journalism awardees. José J. Nieves, an exiled media leader from Cuba who is the editor-in-chief of innovative news site elTOQUE, and Zeinab Mohammed Salih, a courageous freelance reporter covering the atrocities of the war in her home country of Sudan, will be honored at the 2026 ICFJ Awards Dinner.
The event, taking place on November 10 in Washington D.C., will spotlight the innovators and ideas that are shaping journalism's future. Dave Jorgenson, the co-founder of creator-led media company Local News International and former “Washington Post TikTok Guy,” and Ayesha Rascoe, the host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” and the weekend host of “Up First,” will co-host the Awards Dinner.
An exceptional entrepreneurial journalist, to be announced later this summer, will be recognized with the ICFJ Founders Award.
“José and Zeinab report on two of the world's most dangerous environments for journalists, at great personal risk. Yet both choose every day to do this important work,” said ICFJ President Sharon Moshavi. “José has built a newsroom in exile that helps Cubans navigate their daily lives by giving them access to information the government won’t provide. And Zeinab goes where few journalists dare, bringing global attention to humanitarian catastrophes no one else is covering.”
The ICFJ Knight Awards are supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The winners were selected by a panel of judges made up of prominent journalists and editors, ICFJ network members and other distinguished professionals.
“Journalists like José and Zeinab play a critical role in keeping the public informed about what's happening in places where information is difficult to obtain,” said Marisa Kwiatkowski, director of journalism at Knight Foundation. “Celebrating this kind of work is fundamental for greater press freedom everywhere.”
José J. Nieves leads elTOQUE’s transnational newsroom from exile. The outlet, which has become an essential source of information in one of the world’s most repressive media environments, develops innovative tools, including an AI-powered currency tracker that is the primary reference inside and outside of the island. Read more.
“What I find impressive about José Jasán Nieves is the range of what he creates. The daily exchange rate tracker by elTOQUE has become something many Cubans, who no longer have another reliable point of reference, rely on in a very practical way, especially when there is no other trustworthy reference to turn to,” said Maral Jekta, an ICFJ Knight Award judge and the managing director of the JX Fund. “And then there is La Travesía, which does something even more fundamental: It gives names and faces to migrants who disappeared, so their lives and stories do not vanish with them. The fact that he does both, while also sharing his knowledge with the wider exile-media community, is what makes him such an extraordinary figure in this field.”
Zeinab Mohammed Salih has reported on war, politics, human rights and social change in Sudan, South Sudan and the broader Horn of Africa for over 15 years. Without embedding with armed actors, she is often the first journalist to reach some of the most inaccessible areas of the conflict, documenting massacres, sexual violence and famine. Her reporting, published in outlets such as The Guardian, the Financial Times, The Economist and the BBC, has helped shape humanitarian responses on the ground and inform international policymakers working on Sudan. Read more.
“Zeinab impressed all of us on the judging panel with her brave dedication to on-the-ground reporting in one of the world's most violent places,” said Anton Troianovski, an ICFJ Knight Award judge and a global affairs correspondent for The New York Times. “She did it while working as a freelance correspondent, without the full institutional backing that staff correspondents at major news outlets enjoy. Her gripping, detailed dispatches stand out as documents of the tragedy of an often overlooked war.”
The ICFJ Awards Dinner is Washington, D.C.’s premier international media event. By becoming a sponsor, you support our work empowering journalists and our efforts to foster news and information ecosystems that better serve people. Learn more about opportunities to support this year’s Awards Dinner on November 10.
The ICFJ Knight Award winners were selected by the following judges:
Michael Amon, Deputy Chief, World Coverage, The Wall Street Journal, U.S.
Emily Brown, Director, Journalism, Microsoft, U.S.
Catherine Gicheru, Founder and Director, Africa Women Journalism Project, Kenya
Maral Jekta, Managing Director, JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile, Germany/ Iran
Mais Katt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Women Who Won the War, The Netherlands/Syria
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Writer and Vice President, PEN International, U.S.
Sharon Moshavi, President, ICFJ and Co-CEO, Plus, U.S.
Jeanette Rodrigues, Executive Editor, South Asia, Bloomberg, India
Sérgio Spagnuolo, Founder, Núcleo Jornalismo, Brazil
Anton Troianovski, Correspondent, Global Affairs, The New York Times, U.S.
Jose Zamora, Regional Director, Americas, Committee to Protect Journalists, U.S./Guatemala
About ICFJ
The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) enables a global network of tens of thousands of journalists to provide the trustworthy news essential to free and strong societies. Through our global coalition, Plus, we are partnering with tech powerhouse Code for Africa and systems builder PROTO to cultivate civic intelligence – information that helps people make sense of their world and act constructively to shape it. We collaborate with journalists, technologists, civil society, researchers and others to forge stronger, more effective news and information ecosystems. Learn more about our work at ICFJ.org.
About Knight Foundation
We are social investors who support a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. KF.org