Anne Kristine Hermann Named Inaugural Grantee of the Kim Wall Memorial Fund
NEW YORK, MARCH 23, 2018 — Tonight, family members of the late Swedish journalist Kim Wall joined the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) in announcing the first grantee of the Kim Wall Memorial Fund. The announcement was made on what would have been Kim Wall’s 31st birthday, at an event at Superfine in Brooklyn, New York.
Winner Anne Kristine Hermann was chosen from among 139 applicants representing 37 countries. She is a print and radio journalist based in Copenhagen and New York whose career has ranged from news reporting to feature journalism that examined refugee crises, global warming and American politics and more. Born in Aarhus, Denmark, she has reported for Danish media from the Middle East, Latin America, the Arctic and the United States, and her work with indigenous communities inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in anthropology from the New School for Social research in New York, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar. She went on to pursue a Ph.D. with a focus on how journalism and anthropology intersect and can enhance in-depth reporting. She is currently a visiting scholar at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Institute for Journalism and has taught journalism at several universities through the Danish Union of Journalists.
Ms. Hermann will use the grant to help fund her current project – a book on the human consequences of Danish colonialism in Greenland, where she will be traveling this May and June. The project will also be published as a radio documentary for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and as a multimedia feature through the investigative Danish outlet Danwatch.
“Quality journalism is under pressure from many directions and, hence, so is democracy,” Hermann said. “The world needs more reporters like Kim who encourage curiosity and empathy between communities. I am honored to take part in this celebration of her life and work and humbled to be entrusted with carrying her journalistic legacy forward.”
The Kim Wall Memorial Fund grant is given each year to a female journalist who, like its namesake, is called to cover subculture – in Wall’s words, the “undercurrents of rebellion.” The selection committee included IWMF staff, friends, and family of Kim Wall.
Parents Ingrid and Joachim Wall said, “In all of her work, Kim demonstrated her conviction that women journalists should go out into the world and experience all that life has to offer while shining a spotlight on people and places that are too often forgotten or ignored. This memorial fund and its recipients will ensure that the example she set, and the promise she embodied, can be honored in great reporting from every corner of the Earth.”
Nadine Hoffman, deputy director of the IWMF, added, “Kim was not just a fellow of the IWMF, she was a good friend. We’re honored to be able to celebrate her legacy through the administration of this fund.”
About The Kim Wall Memorial Fund
Kim Wall was an award-winning journalist working in print, video, radio and long-form writing.
She reported on gender, popular culture, identity and foreign policy from China, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Haiti, North Korea, India and the Marshall Islands. Her work appeared in a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, TIME, Slate, Vice and The Guardian. In August 2017, Kim was killed while on assignment in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Kim Wall Memorial Fund was established by her family and friends to honor her spirit and legacy. The grant will fund a young female reporter to cover subculture, broadly defined, and what Kim liked to call “the undercurrents of rebellion.” For more information, please visit https://www.rememberingkimwall.com/ or connect on Twitter @TheKimWallFund and Facebook @kimwallmemorialfund.
About the IWMF
Since 1990, the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) has worked to unleash the potential of women journalists as champions of press freedom to transform the global news media. We seek to ensure that women journalists worldwide are fully supported, protected, recognized and rewarded for their vital contributions at all levels of the news media. As a result, consumers will increase their demand for news with a diversity of voices, stories and perspectives as a cornerstone of democracy and free expression. Through our programs and grants, we empower women journalists with the training, opportunities, and support to become leaders in the news industry. Learn more at www.IWMF.org.
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Media Contacts:
Ben Rosner, Finsbury
646-805-2085 / ben.rosner@finsbury.com
Deanna Troust, IWMF
202-251-7282 / dltroust@gmail.com