Applications for Hinzpeter Awards to be accepted until early July

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- Applications for the 4th Hinzpeter Awards, which commemorates late German journalist Jurgen Hinzpeter, the first western reporter to send out footage of the bloody crackdown on the Gwangju people's pro-democracy uprising of May 1980, will be accepted until early July, organizers said Friday.

The Hinzpeter Awards Organizing Committee, which comprises officials from the Korea Video Journalist Association, and the May 18 Memorial Foundation and other experts at home and abroad, said its acceptance of applications for this year's Hinzpeter Awards will proceed from Saturday to July 7.

The international award, established in 2021, is intended to remember Hinzpeter's journalistic spirit behind his on-the-ground coverage of the May 18 Democratization Movement and will be presented to the works of video journalists who reported on the crisis of democracy, human rights and peace around the world.

It has three competitive categories -- The World at a Crossroads Award, Award for News and Award for Features -- and one noncompetitive category, and each recipient will receive prize money of US$10,000 and a trophy.

The award winners will be announced in September. Seoul and Gwangju alternately host the awards ceremony, and this year's ceremony will take place in Gwangju on Nov. 7. Details on the applications are available on the award's official website (www.hinzpeterawards.com).

The German, then a Tokyo correspondent for German public broadcaster ARD-NDR, was the first western journalist to send out footage of the bloodshed. He gained further fame after being portrayed in "A Taxi Driver," a 2017 box-office success that drew more than 10 million viewers in South Korea.

On May 18, 1980, the military cracked down on demonstrators, including students, protesting against then President Chun Doo-hwan, who had taken power in a military coup a year earlier. The harsh quelling of the uprising left hundreds of people dead and thousands wounded.

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