Shortlist #hostwriter Prize: Investigating the EU-Turkey deal on the ground

In April 2016, the EU began deporting refugees from Greece to Turkey. The controversial transfers were part of a hastily agreed EU-Turkey deal intended to manage the massive influx of migrants making the perilous journey over the Aegean Sea into Europe.

Edinburgh based reporter Lorraine Mallinder decided to cover the deportations. Using hostwriter, she connected with photographer Nathalie Betrams in Istanbul. Nathalie put Lorraine up in her Istanbul apartment and together they researched the story before heading to the coastal town of Dikili, where the first deportees were arriving.

“Together, we managed to cover what turned out to be a pretty opaque and complex story. The combination of Nathalie’s expertise on the refugee crisis and Lorraine’s experience of on-the-ground reporting made us an extremely effective team, able to move fast to capture the essential elements of the story.”

You can read their story on Al Jazeera