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.
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
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
Considered for the Oscars 2016 with Song from the Forest
Shortlist Journalist of the Year, European Diversity Awards, London
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
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)
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)
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)
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)
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
Herbert Breiter scholarship, spent in Greece
Ledig House Writers’ Residency, New York
Globetrotter Literature Prize for precious travel literature for Regenzauber
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
