A Samoan journalist has been chosen to represent Oceania in the line-up of judges for the One Young World Journalist of the Year Award for the year 2022. 

The recently relaunched awards are designed to award so-called campaigners and journalists who raise awareness of development issues.

Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson who started her career as a reporter for the Samoa Observer, is among a five-person panel for this year’s awards which includes, Biz Stone (the co-founder of social media service Twitter), Colombian trailblazer, Ilia Calderon, James Chau (a broadcaster, writer and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador), and British journalist and former Editorial Director of BBC News, Kamal Ahmed. 

The One Young World Journalist of the Year Award was created in 2020 to recognise five ground-breaking journalists under the age of 35 from around the world. 

Launched again this year, it continues to celebrate courageous young leaders who have shown considerable commitment to inspiring and empowering others through their work, and changing the way stories are reported in often turbulent journalistic landscapes.

The panel will choose five winners who have created meaningful global impact through exceptionally crafted reporting and who are passionate about the rights to freedom of thought, expression and speech.

Lagipoiva, a chief from Savai'i is a Pacific Island journalist and scholar who has spent over 20 years reporting on climate change, human rights, gender and culture.

At 25, she was appointed editor of Newsline Samoa.

She was a Reuters Fellow at the University of Oxford where she wrote a pioneering study on the coverage of the climate crisis in the Pacific islands.

She is also the recipient of a National Environment Award by the Government of Samoa recognizing her work in climate journalism.