Vita
Michael Obert
Michael Obert is an award-winning German book author and journalist who has been compared with the likes of Bruce Chatwin, Jon Krakauer and Ryszard Kapuscinski.

He reports mainly from Africa and the Middle East and writes for National Geographic, GEO, Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, DIE ZEIT and ZEIT Magazin, and many other prestigious periodicals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well for Sunday Times Magazine, GQ France, The Journal (New York), Dagens Næringsliv (Oslo) and Himal Southasian (Katmandu).

Song from the Forest, Obert’s movie debut as a director, had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013 where it won the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary. The movie was considered for the Oscars 2016.

As an Africa expert, intercultural trainer and coach, Michael Obert advises politicians, professionals and organizations and gives the African continent a voice in the Western media.

In 2017 he founded the Reporter Akademie Berlin.

Awards
2018

European Press Prize (Destinguished Reporting Award) for The Human Catcher (SZ Magazin 23/2017) on Europe´s gatekeepers of hell along the Mediterranean coast in Libya

2017

Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, International Journalism Grant

Amnesty International Media Award for Human Rights for Der Fluch der weißen Haut on human trafficking of body parts of people with albinism in East Africa (SZ Magazin No. 14/2015), Photography Armin Smailovic

2016

Considered for the Oscars 2016 with Song from the Forest

Shortlist Journalist of the Year, European Diversity Awards, London

2015

German Documentary Film Award for Song from the Forest

Nominated for European Press Prize, category Distinguished Writing with Boko Haram. The rise, beliefs and power of Africa´s most feared terrorist group

2014

Nominated for Henri Nannen Award with Im Reich des Todes (In the Empire of Death), a story on thousands of African migrants who are held in torture camps by Bedouins in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula (Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin 29/2013)

Grand Prix, Planete+Doc International Film Festival Warsaw for Song from the Forest

Nominated for Liberty Award 2014

Hansel-Mieth-Prize: The jury honors Im Reich des Todes (In the Empire of Death) as one of the ten best stories of the year. (Photos: Moises Saman)

2013

IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary for Song from the Forest, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013

Otto Brenner Award for Critical Journalism

Lighthouse Award for Outstanding Journalistic Work

Shortlisted for the News Reporting Award of the European Press Prize with Der Bürgermeister der Hölle (The Mayor of Hell), a story on the mayor of war-torn Mogadishu. (Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Munich, 16/2012)

Hansel-Mieth-Prize: The jury honors Der Bürgermeister der Hölle (The Mayor of Hell) as one of the ten best stories of the year. (Photos: Moises Saman; Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, cover story No. 22/2012)

2012

German Reporter Prize, category Best Freelance Reporter, for Der Bürgermeister der Hölle (The Mayor of Hell), a story on the mayor of war-torn Mogadishu. (Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Munich, cover story No. 16/2012)

Hansel-Mieth-Prize:The jury honors Das Blut der Revolution (The Blood of the Revolution) on the Egyptian revolution as one of the ten best stories of the year. (Photos: Moises Saman; Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, cover story No. 22/2011)

2011

Nominated for the German Reporter Prize with Die dunkle Seite der digitalen Welt (The Dark Side of the Digital World) on Coltan mining in war-torn East Congo. (ZEIT Magazin, Hamburg, No. 2/2011

Hansel-Mieth-Prize 2011: The jury honors Der weiße Pygmäe (The White Pygmee) as one of the ten best stories of the year.  (Photos: Matthias Ziegler; ZEIT Magazin, Hamburg, cover story No. 3/11)

2009

Hansel-Mieth-Prize—the jury honors Kinderschokolade, a story on child labor in Côte d’Ivoire, as one of the ten best award-winning entries.
(Photos: Daniel Rosenthal; Greenpeace Magazin)

Sangam House Writers’ Residency, Pondicherry, India

2008

Herbert Breiter scholarship, spent in Greece

Ledig House Writers’ Residency, New York

2005

Globetrotter Literature Prize for precious travel literature for Regenzauber

Bibliography

2017
Karma Highway. Eine Höllenfahrt in die Seele Indiens, DuMont Verlag (True Tales)

2013
Der Bürgermeister der Hölle, in: Hansel-Mieth-Preis 2013, Schwoerer Verlag

2012
Der Bürgermeister der Hölle, in: Reportagen für die Informationsfreiheit/Les grands reportages pour la liberté de l’information, Jahrbuch 2012, Reporter ohne Grenzen, Zürich

Das Blut der Revolution, in: Hansel-Mieth-Preis 2012, Schwoerer Verlag

2011
Balkanbeat. Meine Suche nach Patrick Leigh Fermor, National Geographic Verlag

Der größte Pygmäe, in: Hansel-Mieth-Preis 2011, Schwoerer Verlag

2009
Chatwins Guru und ich. Meine Suche nach Patrick Leigh Fermor, Malik / Piper Verlag

Guter Rauch, böser Rauch, in: Reisen bis der Arzt kommt, National Geographic Verlag

Kinderschokolade, in: Hansel-Mieth-Preis 2009, Schwoerer Verlag

2008
Die Ränder der Welt. Patagonien, Timbuktu, Bhutan & Co., Malik / Piper Verlag, München

2007
Südlich der Stille, u.a.; in: Reisen. Impressionen, Margot Litten (Hrsg.), belleville Verlag, München

2006
Bakassi Boys, in: Fenster zur Parallelwelt, Martina Backes (Hrsg.), Verlag iz3w, Freiburg

2004
Regenzauber. Auf dem Fluss der Götter, Droemer / National Geographic Verlag, München

2000
Libanon. Kunst und Kultur (Bildband), Belser Verlag, Stuttgart

Oase der geheimen Wünsche, u.a., in: Die schönsten Reisereportagen, Werd Verlag, Zürich

1999
Persien. Kultur und Kunst zwischen Orient und Okzident (Bildband), Belser Verlag, Stuttgart

Gesichter des Islam. Ausgewählte Reisereportagen aus der islamischen Welt, Nomad Verlag, Berlin

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