A news story, Campbelltown’s Prisoner of War, written by young reporter Soraiya Gharahkhani whose mother is Filipina, won the 2010 Best News Story of the Year award at the annual Community Newspapers Australia Awards presentation last month.
Soraiya’s heart-rending story of an Iraqi forced to escape to Australia only to be abandoned by the system on his arrival was published late last year in the Macarthur Advertiser weekly newspaper where she works as a senior journalist.
”Nebras Ali, an Iraqi veterinarian used as interpreter by Australian Armed Forces in the last war in Iraq, came to the newspaper and told me of his sad plight,” Soraiya said in an interview on Radio Sandigan last Friday.
”Nebras had been allowed refuge in Australia for fear of reprisal against him by followers of dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime, but the system left him alone to fend for himself without his family.”
The newspaper story drew enough attention to the Iraqi refugee’s plight that immigration authorities stepped in to allow his family into Australia and provided him proper support.
”I was happily excited when I heard my name read as the winner,” Soraiya said. It was not her first award. Soraiya had been cited by Fairfax Media for news feature stories three times over the last five years.
There were 15 award categories including best news story and best editorial, among many others.– ?