The first project, #NamaBaikKampus (Campus Reputation) was a collaboration between the Post, Tirto.id, VICE Indonesia and BBC Indonesia, which later withdrew from the collaboration.

The project uncovered sexual abuse allegations in higher educational institutions throughout Indonesia, based on the testimonies of 174 sexual abuse survivors from 79 state, private and religious universities.

Read also: Sexual abuse on campus: 174 survivors across Indonesia speak up

The Post also won for a joint investigation of an episode of deadly unrest in Wamena, Papua, that occurred on Sept. 23, 2019. The collaboration involved Tirto and Jayapura-based publication Jubi.

The report found that the government had not publicly revealed that at least eight native Papuans had died of gunshot wounds inflicted by people whom locals referred to as “security officers”.

Wamena investigation: What the government is not telling us #jakpost https://t.co/UgW7jtHeTc pic.twitter.com/CugssFMAIs

— The Jakarta Post (@jakpost) November 26, 2019

The AJI established the Tasrif Award to commemorate renowned journalist Suardi Tasrif, who was named the father of Indonesia’s journalistic code of ethics for having established the Indonesian Journalist Union’s (PWI) code of ethics in 1954.

One of the judges for the Tasrif Award, Mujtaba Hamdi from the Wahid Foundation said during the online award ceremony that the Tasrif Award was given to stories that fulfilled the public’s right to information, that utilized the press’ function for social accountability and that revealed hidden injustices.

“I think this year is the year of collaboration,” Mujtaba said during the virtual awards ceremony on Friday.

Another judge was AJI member Bambang Muryanto, who is also a contributing journalist for The Jakarta Post in Yogyakarta. As a judge he said he had avoided a potential conflict of interest by withholding his opinion on the two reports. He said the two other judges had awarded the collaborative projects the prize.

Bambang is part of the #NamaBaikKampus collaboration.

As Tirto founder Atmaji Sapto Anggoro accepted the award during the virtual ceremony, he thanked all the media organizations that had been involved in the two projects.

"This award is a tribute to press freedom, where the press must try to be skeptical and dig up information based on facts, data and reality so that we can publish it. This is the power of collaboration," said Sapto.

Read also: 'The Jakarta Post' wins twice at Indonesia Print Media Awards

Anglea Flassy, a reporter for Jubi, said collaboration among news organizations had made journalism more effective, noting that the report on the unrest in Wamena had managed to confirm dozens of casualties.

Past winners of the Tasrif Award include filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer and "Anonymous", who made the documentary The Act of Killing (2015); Forum LGBTIQ and International People's Tribunal 65 (IPT 65) (2016); and Baiq Nuril, a victim of alleged sexual harassment who was put on trial for reporting the harassment (2019).

On Friday, the AJI also gave the Udin Award to Tempo. The award honors an individual or group of journalists who have fallen victim to violence while doing their work.

The organization awarded this year’s SK Trimurti Award to Gadria Rosdiana Djukana, the editor-in-chief of East Nusa Tenggara-based daily publication KURSOR. The award is given to a female journalist for her professional achievements.

Two student media organizations – Arena from Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University in Yogyakarta and Progress from the University of Indraprasta PGRI in Jakarta – were awarded the AJI’s 2020 Student Press Award.

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales