SYDNEY: The Armenian National Committee of Australia's (ANC-AU) Annual Gala honoured Mr. James Robins with the organisation's Ben Bagdikian Media Award – recognising those in media who have had the greatest impact raising awareness concerning matters important to Armenian-Australians.
Mr. Robins is a British/New Zealand award-winning journalist and historian, the producer and host of "The Great Crime", a podcast about the Armenian Genocide and author of When We Dead Awaken: Australia, New Zealand, and the Armenian Genocide.
This award is for Mr. Robins' work on The Great Crime podcast, where as the writer and presented, he took an in-depth look at plight of the Armenian people during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, when they committed the Genocide beginning 24th April 1915.
"The Great Crime was created to bring the latest and most up to date knowledge of the Armenian Genocide to the public in an accessible and engaging way, so ordinatry people can grasp the tragic shape of this history,” said New Zealand resident Mr. Robins via video message from his current base in London.
This award was being handed out for the second time after broadcaster Mr. Alan Jones became the original recipient in 2019, and is named after Armenian Genocide survivor Mr. Ben Bagdikian, who was featured in Steven Spielberg’s film The Post (2017), recounting his time as assistant managing editor of The Washington Post where excerpts of the Pentagon Papers were published, exposing classified material regarding US involvement in the military campaign in Vietnam – despite strong opposition from the Nixon administration.
Mr. Robins added: "The series is tough to listen to, but this is deliberate ... I tried not to spare any horrors as that would be deceitful ... it would go against all the principles Ben Bagdikian lived by. It is a joy to receive an award in his name, someone who I knew of even before I began to study the genocide. His example and his legacy is a model to journalists everywhere. He was a man who had a sense of justice hardcoded into every fibre of his being, who sought to do battle with injustice wherever he found it."
ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian congratulated Robins as a pioneer of bringing the story of the Armenian Genocide to new media.
"Mr. James Robins’ podcast is a pioneering use of new media to promote the awareness of the Armenian Genocide as one of the most heinous crimes against humanity, making the information engaging and digestible for a new audience," said Kayserian.
Listen to his podcast by clicking here.
Buy his book by clicking here.
Mr. Robins' acceptance speech can be viewed by clicking here or watching below.
