Mario Lawson, first winner of the "Michèle Léridon Scholarship" for diversity in the media

Agence France-Presse and Arcom are delighted to award the first "Michèle Léridon Scholarship" to Mario Lawson, a 24-year-old journalist trained by the association La Chance pour la diversité dans les médias. The winner will shortly be joining the AFP editorial team on a three-month contract, giving him the opportunity to discover one or more of the agency's departments or bureaus. He will also receive today the sum of 5,000 euros awarded by Arcom to help him realize his projects.

The "Michèle Léridon Scholarship" is intended to honor the statement of case and commitment of the former AFP Director of Information and member of the French Superior Audiovisual Council (French Superior Audiovisual Council, now Arcom), who died on May 3, 2021. The competition is open to youngsters who have attended La Chance, but who have not yet entered a journalism school recognized by the profession. Mario Lawson took the course in 2019-2020, after completing a degree in English and a bilingual French-English Masters in Journalism at Sorbonne Nouvelle University. Since June 2021, he has been a reporter at LFM Radio in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines), where he also presents a program deciphering youth-related social phenomena. He created "Mantes & Co en action", a podcast highlighting initiatives taken in Mantes and the surrounding area.

Mario Lawson: "I am honored and proud to have been chosen as the first recipient of the Michèle Léridon scholarship. You can be sure that I'll make the most of the experience ahead of me to try to become a full-fledged agencier and live up to the message conveyed by this scholarship".

Roch-Olivier MAISTRE, President of Arcom: "We are delighted that today's award continues Michèle's commitment to better representation of society in the media. When Mario Lawson became a journalist, his first desire was to be an agent. It's a wonderful sign of destiny that he should receive this award.

Fabrice FRIES, Chairman and CEO of AFP: "AFP is delighted to welcome Mario Lawson soon. This fellowship is one of the levers we can use to make our newsroom more representative of society, in keeping with Michèle Léridon's commitments."

Marc EPSTEIN, President of La Chance: "Mario Lawson has marked the volunteer journalists of La Chance by his rigor, his capacity for work, his attention to others and his kindness. Family worries took him away from us too soon. Michèle Léridon was committed to equal opportunities, a supporter of greater diversity among journalists and a loyal ally of La Chance. She would have been moved and delighted to discover this scholarship and this first winner."

The call for applications for the 2nd edition of the "Michèle Léridon Scholarship" will be launched in January 2023.

Michèle Léridon joined AFP in 1981. Deputy director of the Abidjan bureau, deputy editor-in-chief Europe-Africa, head of the social news department, director of the Rome bureau, she became the agency's first female news director in 2014. Michèle Léridon was appointed by the President of the French National Assembly to sit on the French Superior Audiovisual Council in 2019. In charge of program ethics and political plurality, she had monitored several elections, including the 2019 European elections and the 2020 referendum in New Caledonia.