BIO

Sally Hayden is an award-winning journalist, photographer and author.

She has worked with VICE, VICE News, CNN International, the Financial Times Magazine, TIME, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, BBC, the Washington Post, the Irish Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, Magnum Photos, Channel 4 News, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, NBC News, Maclean’s, the Sunday Times, Newsweek, RTE, ELLE, Marie Claire, Die Zeit, Voice of America, the Independent, the Telegraph, Deutsche Welle, IRIN, the New Statesman, the New Internationalist, the National, the TLS, the Huffington Post and ITV News, and had stories and/or photojournalism republished on six continents by outlets including Pacific Standard, National Geographic, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of India, Euronews, the Christian Science Monitor, Sky News, Der Spiegel, the Observer, the Globe and Mail, ABC News, Forbes, the Economist and TeleSUR English, among many others.

HEFAT certified, Sally has reported from countries including Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, France, Germany, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Ireland, the UK, Lebanon, Jordan, DR Congo, Panama, Cambodia, the Gambia, Liberia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Ghana, Rwanda, Malawi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Madagascar, the US, Italy, Malta, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Niger, Tunisia, Palestine, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone. Her writing has been translated into at least nine languages and she has appeared as a TV and radio guest. Her work has also been exhibited in the Pompidou Centre in Paris; in German government offices in Berlin; and at EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum, in Dublin.

Sally is currently an adjunct professor at the UCD Sutherland School of Law. She has a law degree from University College Dublin and an MSc in international politics from Trinity College, Dublin, where her thesis was on post-conflict societies and theories of civil war resolution. In 2024, she completed the British Red Cross summer school on international humanitarian law at Cambridge University. She has worked as a trainer at the BBC Academy; a guest lecturer or speaker at universities including New York University, Boston University, Princeton, the London College of Communication, TU Dublin, Loyola Marymount and UT Sydney; and volunteered as a mentor for the Refugee Journalism Project.

Her first book, ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route’, was published by HarperCollins, 4th Estate (UK) and Melville House (US) in March 2022. It has since been translated into Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Polish. Her second book, ‘This is also a Love Story’, is expected in 2026. It will be published by HarperCollins, 4th Estate in the UK/Ireland, and in North America by Scribner.

CV

Awards/honours:

  • Winner, ‘journalist of the year’, Irish Journalism Awards, 2025.
  • Winner, best ‘foreign coverage’, Irish Journalism Awards, 2025.
  • Winner, ‘features journalist of the year (broadsheet)’, Irish Journalism Awards, 2025.
  • Selected for the Eddie Adams Workshop (photography), 2025.
  • Winner of the Premio Inge Feltrinelli (for ‘E la quarta volta siamo annegati’), 2025.
  • Nominated for the Ryszard Kapuściński Award (for ‘Za czwartym razem zatonęliśmy’), 2025.
  • Recipient of the Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from the Elizabethan Society in Trinity College, Dublin, 2025.
  • Recipient of the James Joyce Award from the UCD Literary and Historical Society, 2025.
  • One of my photos from covering the fall of the Assad regime in Syria was named a Times/Sunday Times ‘photo that defined the year’, 2024.
  • Winner, ‘features journalist of the year (broadsheet)’, Irish Journalism Awards, 2024.
  • Shortlisted, best ‘foreign coverage’, Irish Journalism Awards, 2024.
  • Winner of Il Premio Terzani (for ‘E la quarta volta siamo annegati’), 2024.
  • Named a ‘European Young Leader’ by Friends of Europe, 2024.
  • Bursary, Rory Peck Training Fund, 2023.
  • Winner, ‘journalist of the year’, Irish Journalism Awards, 2023.
  • Winner, best ‘foreign coverage’, Irish Journalism Awards, 2023.  
  • Granted a literature bursary from the Irish Arts Council, 2023.
  • Accepted for Yaddo artists residency, 2023.
  • Finalist in the BookTube Prize (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2023.
  • Nominated for the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2023.
  • Finalist for the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2023.
  • A Sunday Times ‘one to watch’, 2023.
  • Winner, An Post Irish Book of the Year (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2022.
  • Winner, ‘non-fiction book of the year’, Irish Book Awards (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2022.
  • Winner, Irish Tatler Women of the Year – International Award, 2022.
  • Shortlisted, best ‘foreign coverage’, Newsbrands Irish Journalism Awards, 2022.
  • Shortlisted for ‘newcomer of the year’ at the Irish Book Awards (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2022.
  • Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2022.
  • Winner of the Michel Déon Prize (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2022.
  • Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2022.
  • Shortlisted for the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing (for ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’), 2022.
  • Shortlisted, best ‘foreign coverage’, Newsbrands Irish Journalism Awards, 2021.
  • Merit award for international justice reporting, Justice Media Awards, Law Society of Ireland, 2021.
  • Longlisted, One World Media’s refugee reporting award, 2021.
  • Shortlisted, best ‘broadsheet features’ & ‘foreign coverage’, Newsbrands Irish Journalism Awards, 2020.
  • UCD alumni award for law, 2020.
  • ‘Coronavirus journalism excellence’, Press Gazette, 2020.
  • Shortlisted, best investigation, Amnesty International Media Awards, 2020.
  • Reuters bursary, Rory Peck Training Fund, 2020.
  • Member of Transparency International’s Anti-Corruption Award Committee, 2020.
  • Journalists for Transparency grantee, 2019-2020.
  • Simon Cumbers Media Fund awardee, 2019.
  • Winner, ‘journalism excellence’ award at the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards, 2019.
  • Winner, ‘foreign coverage’ of the year, Newsbrands Irish Journalism Awards, 2019.
  • Logan nonfiction fellow at the Carey Institute for Global Good, 2019.
  • Forbes ’30 Under 30′ in media, Europe, 2019.
  • Finalist in the international freelancer category, Kurt Schork Memorial Awards in International Journalism, 2019.
  • Named as a ‘Trinity trailblazer’, by Trinity College, Dublin, 2019.
  • Shortlisted, Amnesty International Media Award for innovation, 2019.
  • Speaker at the International Journalism Festival, Perugia, 2019.
  • Winner, ‘foreign coverage’ of the year, Newsbrands Ireland Journalism Awards, 2018.
  • Shortlisted, Newsbrands Irish Journalism Awards: ‘features writer (broadsheet)’ & ‘young journalist of the year’, 2018.
  • Finalist, Frontline Club Awards, print, 2018.
  • Finalist in the international freelancer category of the Kurt Schork Memorial Awards in International Journalism, 2018.
  • First prize, European Migration Media Awards, 2018.
  • United Nations Foundation press fellow, 2018.
  • Named a member of Transparency International’s Anti-Corruption Award Committee, 2018.
  • US News Media Alliance ‘Rising Star’, 2018.
  • Speaker at the International Journalism Festival, Perugia, 2018.
  • Finalist (and a separate project longlisted) for One World Media’s refugee reporting award, 2018.
  • Finalist for One World Media’s digital media award, 2018.
  • Finalist for Amnesty International’s Gaby Rado Award for best new journalist, 2018.
  • Longlisted for Amnesty International media award for best feature, 2018.
  • Selected for the Women in Journalism mentoring programme, 2018.
  • Shortlisted for ‘young journalist of the year’ at the Irish Journalism Awards, 2017.
  • Award from the Mary Raftery Refugee Crisis Media Fund, 2017.
  • International Journalists’ Network ‘Journalist of the Month’, May, 2017.
  • Shortlisted for One World Media’s ‘New Voice’ award, 2017.
  • One of a team awarded a Journalists for Transparency grant, 2017.
  • Included in Stellar Magazine’s ‘100 Irish Women Who Inspire Us’, 2017.
  • Fellow at the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Panama, 2016.
  • Best National/World News Site for VICE News at the Online Media Awards, 2016.
  • Scholarship recipient for a Magnum Photos Professional Practice Weekend, 2014.
  • Winner of the Suas 8×8 Photography Competition, 2014.
  • Winner of a 2014 Simon Cumbers Media Award, which funded a trip to Rwanda to write about media freedom.
  • Winner of the 2013 Simon Cumbers Media Award for Print Journalism, which funded a trip to Malawi to write about women’s rights.
  • Nominated for ‘Journalist of the Year’​ and ‘Travel Writer of the Year’​ at the National Student Media Awards, 2012.
  • Shortlisted for ‘Features (Arts and Culture) Journalist of the Year’ at the National Student Media Awards, 2010.
  • Winner, Irish Star Young Journalist Competition, 2006.

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