We caught up with Yara El Murr, winner of the Young Journalist Award 2023, to find out how her life has changed since scooping the main prize for her investigation: Intercepted At Sea', a three-part series examining the human cost of border enforcement in Lebanon.
Following her move from Beirut to Toronto, she explains how she keeps in touch with issues back home, shares her passion for a new role mentoring young local journalists and tells how the Thomson-sponsored trip to London led to an exciting career opportunity.
Q & A You've swapped Beirut for Toronto, why the change?
There are many challenges working as a journalist in Lebanon because you are living all the issues and crises that youre reporting on. It was very hard to take care of myself mentally and physically. I was spending time with many people who were going through really hard times, while at home I also had to struggle wondering do I have electricity today? Do I have running water? We take these things for granted but they really bring down your morale and productivity. Also, a lot of the issues we reported on at The Public Source* brought about safety and security concerns because we were doing uncompromising journalism that was critical of the authorities.
How do you keep in touch with issues back home?
Despite being physically far from Beirut, a lot of my work still focuses on the Middle East and whats happening in Palestine and Im still connected to the region with some of the projects Im doing from here. It was a very tough decision to leave, but I feel that one of the main goals in my career is still to do public service journalism for my community wherever I am.
Is there a Lebanese community in Toronto?
I think there's more Lebanese living abroad than there are in the country because were in the middle of a huge crisis. I have a very nice Lebanese community here, many that also recently immigrated to Toronto. Its really great to have gatherings where you speak Arabic, eat Lebanese food and it just feels like a mini version of home away from home.
You recently started mentoring local young journalists, tell us about that.
I am working at The Green Line Toronto* on a pilot project with 15 to 28-year-olds and were training them in community reporting. I spent a month teaching them the basics of video interviewing, editing and writing skills. And now throughout the summer, I will be mentoring them on producing their own stories about their community - its one in Toronto that receives very little media attention and when it does, its mostly about crime or homelessness. So really, its a project to help the youth drive better media coverage. Its my first-time teaching and I found that its such a beautiful thing to empower other young aspiring journalists.
How has winning the Young Journalist Award impacted your career?
Its really helped me forge a network of connections that have been really helpful. For example, we visited the Guardian newsroom and met editors who Ive been in touch with since. I have written several articles, including one about Palestinian-Canadians trying to get their loved ones out of Gaza (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/13/canada-gaza-outrage-faulty-visa-program). It was the first article coming out of Canada that really pointed out how the (Canadian) government's visa programme was failing. The piece really sparked outrage and I dont want to take all the credit, but I've seen it used by a lot of rights organisations to advocate and push for more to be done.
What was it like meeting the other YJA finalists in London?
We shared the experiences of being women journalists in countries where we have much less support and less resources. We are all writing stories with the hope of driving an impact in countries that lack the mechanisms to hold governments accountable. The three of us talked about the challenges at our newsrooms and in our countries. I think we were each others biggest cheerleaders in that sense, trying to just encourage and cheer on one other for the stories that weve done. Also, we are all young journalists at a different stage of our careers, so we sort of saw ourselves in each other and that was something really beautiful.
Why is it important that the Young Journalist Award champions journalists from countries with a GNI under US$20k?
A lot of the time, stories that go viral are from international outlets coming into these countries and reporting about the crisis that they are going through. We dont hear a lot from the people in their localities with all of the nuances that a journalist living through these conditions can bring. I think the inclusion of young journalists from countries with a GNI under US$20k, is really empowering. Many of us come with a lot of self-doubt and imposter syndrome but (the award) really proves that our work is as worthy and even though we dont have the same resources, it doesnt mean we aren't able to produce stories that are as impactful, or as important, to the global discourse.
What are your plans for the future?
There are a lot of opportunities to go in so many different directions, whether thats continuing with writing investigations or to pivot a bit more into documentary work. I dont see myself in just one place, and Im really interested in experimenting with different kinds of media. There are so many things I want to write about and make documentaries on. For now, I'm in Canada but Im still attached to Lebanon and Im still following the stories, writing about the region and am involved in projects. However, I am also trying to make space for being here in Toronto and doing journalism for the local community that Im part of now. I think ultimately, its going to be a balance of both.
*The Public Source is a Beirut-based independent media organisation.
Explore our projects across
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Thursday 2 July 2026
Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen
Sky today confirms Tea with Judi Dench will return this su...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
LEXINGTON, Kentucky - July 2026 -Tyler Childers' seventh and latest studio record, Snipe Hunter, is an adventurously sprawling collection of tunes that span...
01/07/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
BLEACH Comes to Life in Los Angeles with First-of-Its-Kind...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
01/07/2026
Nectar360, the Retail Media, Loyalty and Insights business of the Sainsburys Gro...
01/07/2026
9.2 million streams on RT Player between 11 and 28 June
Reach of 2.9 million viewers during Group stages of FIFA World Cup on RT 2
23 million video views acr...
30/06/2026
Could your journalism reach an international stage?
Entries are now open for the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2026, one of the most prestigi...
30/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
30/06/2026
New IR reverb engine, Juno-inspired chorus & more
The latest version of Rapid Flow's hardware-emulation synth plug-in expands on its predecessor with a ...
30/06/2026
Excels at heavy-handed VCA compression
For their latest release, Shy Audio have recreated the crunchy' sound of a rackmount compressor that found its w...
30/06/2026
Component scarcity drives cost increases
Shortly after Apple's CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that cost increases would soon be inevitable , the company hav...
30/06/2026
Hitachi and Bank Pekao S.A. have completed the installation of the first Hitachi...
30/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/06/2026
Four-layer instrument aimed at dark electronic music
Excite Audio's latest software instrument has been designed with dark drum and bass, atmospheric te...
29/06/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
29/06/2026
Details environmental policies & results
The Focusrite Group have just announced that following a long audit process, they have published their 2026 sustain...
29/06/2026
Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency
The team behind the AWS Cloud Operations Competency (from left to right: Philipp Hellmich, Johanna Bod...
29/06/2026
RT today announced that Ger Gilroy will join the RT Podcasts team to present a daily sports podcast. Launching later this year, the new show will set the spor...
29/06/2026
RT Commercial announced OUTsurance as sponsor of the Oliver Callan show on RT Radio 1 from Wednesday 1 July.
Oliver Callan doubles the fun, delivering two ...
28/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
28/06/2026
New EXO Series DSP control software announced
EVE Audio's EXO Series monitor range has just gained a new software element that provides remote access to...
27/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
26/06/2026
Virtual session musician plug-in gains new percussion options
Celemony's latest update for their virtual session musician platform complements the exist...
26/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
26/06/2026
ELT Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial...
26/06/2026
Flicker Productions to produce five-part docu-reality series following women who have fallen for men in prison and have become TikTok sensations, with brands an...
26/06/2026
Catch up on the latest developments across Baselight and Daylight v7, Nara and F...
26/06/2026
26. June 2026 News
DFT is pleased to announce that a second Polar HQ film s...
We caught up with Yara El Murr, winner of the Young Journalist Award 2023, to find out how her life has changed since scooping the main prize for her investigation: Intercepted At Sea', a three-part series examining the human cost of border enforcement in Lebanon.
