Two Women Journalists Honored as 2022 Kim Wall Memorial Fund Recipients
Grantees, including a peer of Wall, to explore issues of access and cultural recognition in China and France
WASHINGTON, DC, March 23, 2022 – Today, family and friends of late Swedish journalist Kim Wall announced the fifth annual recipients of the Kim Wall Memorial Fund (KWMF), which has been operated by the International Women's Media Foundation since 2018. The memorial fund, developed in honor of Wall, distributes grants to women journalists pursuing underrepresented stories that take a closer look at offbeat and, at times, neglected societal truths.
Wall was a freelance journalist who covered identity, gender, pop-culture, social justice and foreign policy for The New York Times, Slate, The South China Morning Post and The Atlantic, among other publications. She was killed in 2017 while on assignment in Copenhagen.
This year's KWMF recipients are audio editor and reporter Astrid Landon, based in Paris, and freelance journalist and photo editor Ye Charlotte Ming, working in Berlin. These women's investigations will bring light to issues of access and representation for local communities in Asia and Europe. Landon's reporting will explore the right to sexual assistance for people with disabilities in France, and Ming's research will address the legacy of looting during Germany's colonial presence in China. Both grantees graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism.
Landon currently covers the mental healthcare system in the U.S. and France as well as other health and social issues. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Libération, Challenges, Le Monde, AreWeEurope and beyond. The Pulitzer Center recently supported Landon's story on the use of electroconvulsive therapy on children with autism. Her previous employers include Radio France and France Televisions.
Landon remarked: "I admire Kim's courage and tenacity – it's something I hope I can live up to in my reporting. The importance of finding blind spots in journalism by addressing intersections is very modern and is something Kim did brilliantly. I'm anxious to continue her legacy by pursuing this investigation and am deeply grateful to the Kim Wall Memorial Fund for enabling this reporting."
Ming focuses on stories of culture, history and identity. She reports in English and Mandarin and her writing has been published in TIME, National Geographic, Atlas Obscura, World Press Photo Witness, the Art Newspaper, Sixth Tone and other publications. Prior to freelancing, Ming worked as a journalist and photo editor for Getty Images and TIME LightBox.
Ming noted: "When I heard I was a Kim Wall Memorial Fund grantee, the news filled me with emotion. Kim and I worked together during a long-term reporting project in 2016 and 2017; at the time, Kim was being recognized more and more for her intense, passionate and eye-opening journalism. Receiving this grant now helps me to recall her curious energy, and her enthusiasm for neglected pursuits. This reporting is for Kim."
The KWMF selection committee is comprised of IWMF staff members as well as a network Kim's friends and close family. In 2022, the committee reviewed nearly 100 applications to the fund from journalists across 37 countries.
Kim's parents, Ingrid and Joachim Wall, are thrilled to welcome these two new grantees to the KWMF. The Walls commented: "This year's applications reinforce that Kim's eye for storytelling continues to flourish all over the world. Astrid and Charlotte's proposals show us that there is much to learn about things that are often hidden from the public's gaze. We send our sincere congratulations, and look forward to reading their reporting, as would Kim."
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 supports young female reporters 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 at @TheKimWallFund and Facebook at @kimwallmemorialfund.
About the IWMF
Founded in 1989, the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) is the only global non-profit organization that offers emergency support, safety training, grants, reporting opportunities and funding avenues offered specifically for women journalists. We are making more women's bylines possible and work tirelessly to ensure a greater diversity of voices represented in the news industry worldwide. Follow the IWMF on Twitter at @IWMF, on Facebook at @IWMFPage and Instagram on @TheIWMF.
Charlotte Fox, IWMF
cfox@iwmf.org