Acclaimed journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown wins ‘Commentator of the Year – Broadsheet’ at the 2025 Media Freedom Awards

Journalist, author and columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has been honoured with the “Commentator of the Year — Broadsheet” prize at the 2025 Media Freedom Awards, organised by the Society of Editors and held on Wednesday, 12 November 2025. The award recognises her outstanding contribution to commentary and public discourse through her work with the i Paper.

Commenting on the award, Yasmin said: “My thanks to the Society of Editors and to all the colleagues, readers and sources who make rigorous commentary possible,” said Yasmin following the award. “The job of the commentator is never solely to reflect the world, but to ask: What is hidden? What needs to change? In the age of disinformation and shrinking civic space, good journalism is democracy’s ally.”

Yasmin’s achievement builds on a distinguished career spanning decades of fearless commentary, campaigning and investigative writing. Born in Uganda in 1949, she obtained a First Class degree in English Literature at Makerere University in 1972—the same year she left the country—and later earned an MPhil in Literature from University of Oxford.

Yasmin’s previous honours include the prestigious George Orwell Prize for Political Writing, awarded in 2002. She also received the National Press Awards Columnist of the Year in 2017, been twice voted among the top ten most influential Asian writers in Britain, holds eight honorary degrees, serves as part-time Professor of Journalism at Middlesex University, has been a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company and co-founded the charity British Muslims for Secular Democracy.

The Media Freedom Awards celebrate “those who dare to hold power to account,” and Yasmin’s recognition underscores her role as a public intellectual who bridges popular commentary and academic rigour. Her columns in The i have interrogated identity, migration, and media accountability with clarity and compassion.

Beyond print, Yasmin’s influence spans books (including Ladies Who Punch: Fifty trail-blazing women whose stories you should know), lectures, broadcast appearances and advocacy on media freedom and diversity. Her breadth of engagement demonstrates that commentary remains a vital force — not just a consolation prize for the media.