Slain Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana has received the Giusseppe Fava Foundation’s 2018 ‘Nothing But The Truth’ award. She will be the first non-Italian as well as the first woman to receive the Italian award, now in its 34th edition.

In giving the award, the Foundation said that they were honouring “Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose violent and cruel death at the hands of mafia-like figures, was the last contribution of a life dedicated to seeking the truth with commitment, sacrifice, dignity and coherence.”

“From a small nation, Daphne showed the world how every journalist capable of seeking out and telling the truth is indispensable to civil and democratic development and unbearable to corruption and dictatorship,” the Foundation continued.

The Foundation, which is named after investigative journalist Giuseppe Fava who was killed by the mafia himself, also quoted a paragraph that appeared on Ms Caruana Galizia’s blog on the 5th of June, 2017.

“When people taunt you or criticise you for being ‘negative’ or for failing to go with their flow, or for not adopting an attitude of benign tolerance to their excesses, bear in mind always that they, and not you, are the ones who are wrong,” she had written.

These words reflected a motto that Giuseppe Fava had lived by himself: “is there any use in living if you don’t have the courage to fight?”

The annual ceremony in Catania featured a gathering of journalists and intellectuals to see Ms Caruana Galizia posthumously receive her award. Flowers were also laid under the marble plaque on the spot were Giuseppe Fava was murdered.

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]