Kolkata student Sarah Aziz wins top British journalism award
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Sarah Aziz, a student and freelance journalist from Kolkata, has won the second prize for “Young Journalist of the Year” at the prestigious UK Press Awards held on May 22, according to a recent press release. At 23 years old, Aziz is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She began her journalism career in 2023 while still completing her undergraduate studies in Kolkata.
During her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Loreto College, Kolkata, Aziz reported on the plight of Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh for Voice of America, an American multimedia broadcasting network. This report earned her the esteemed British media award.
The Press Awards, widely regarded as the most prestigious journalism accolade in the UK, recognised Aziz for her investigative reporting contributions to major publications such as The Guardian and The Telegraph (UK). In November 2024, she published a detailed investigation in The Telegraph revealing the circumstances surrounding the “mysterious” death of a Rohingya child detained by the Indian government in New Delhi. Her multimedia report exposed medical negligence and abuse endured by the child while also uncovering a broader pattern of mass arbitrary detention and torture of Rohingya refugees seeking safety in India.
Earlier that same year, Aziz exposed the hidden scandal of rape and sexual abuse of incarcerated women in India, particularly in West Bengal. This investigative piece, published in The Guardian, unveiled the methods used by authorities to conceal crimes against some of the country’s most vulnerable women.
Aziz has extensively reported on the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in India and Bangladesh for numerous international news outlets, including The South China Morning Post, Voice of America, and The Guardian. Her investigative breaking news coverage of the 2025 Bangladesh student protests appeared in The Times (UK).
She is expected to graduate from Columbia University with a Master of Science in Journalism in August 2025.
