Charlie Clewis honored by Military Reporters & Editors
WASHINGTON — During its annual conference for journalists, Military Reporters & Editors presented awards to the winners of the 2025 MRE Journalism Contest. Charlie Clewis wins MRE’s Honorable Mention for Enterprise/Feature Reporting (Division 2) award for work appearing in the quarterly Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB).
Award Summary
Article: “Syria’s Forgotten Island of Opposition”, Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB Quarterly), published 12/7/2024.
Prize Category: Honorable Mention Enterprise-Feature Reporting / Division 2, Text journalism published in traditional print or online media.
Best work on a single topic containing numerous voices, creativity, and sources of information/data, or focused reporting that provides deeper context into a subject, in contrast to a typical news story, published by news organization with fewer than 20 reporters.
Judges’ Comments:
Charlie Clewis paints a vivid picture of the Al-Tanf military base in southern Syria in “Syria’s Forgotten Island of Opposition,” and recounts the history of the last 15 years, from ISIS control to the emerging Free Syrian Army, and how US involvement in Syria differs from nearby countries. The descriptions are engaging, the sourcing is impressive, and the photos are striking.
Read the Winning Article
- Article 1: Syria’s Forgotten Island of Opposition LARB Quarterly (12/7/2024)
Journalist Biography
Charlie Clewis
Charlie Clewis is a writer and photographer from Virginia. He served four years as an officer in the US Army. Working and studying across Africa and the Middle East, he is the recipient of numerous photography awards and his work has been exhibited in galleries within the US and Europe. He now lives in the UK and is a master’s candidate at Oxford University.