Finalist, Rory Peck Award for News 2012
for
London Riots
Shot in UK, August 2011
Self-funded
Broadcast by Associated Press / guardian.co.uk

Striking street-level coverage of the first four days of rioting across London in the summer of 2011.

BACKGROUND
Jason was on the streets of Tottenham within hours of the start of the violence and stayed long after most media organizations were forced to leave because of rioters hostility to the press.

There were many reports of photographers and camera operators being attacked or robbed, but Jason managed to stay in the middle of the action. On the third day he focused on the rioting around Hackney, another area that had become increasingly hostile to the press, again managing to capture both sides of the continuing violence. In Enfield, he also focused on the activities of armed vigilante groups.

VIDEO CLIP

JUDGES COMMENTS
The judges felt Jason captured the drama of the tension between police and rioters in a series of "beautifully framed shots".

One said: "Jason reminds us that the dangers faced by freelance newsgatherers aren’t just found overseas. This important, powerful, visual story was unfolding almost on his doorstep. It is close and personal. You get a real sense of Jason thinking on his feet - it's fabulous, striking work."

BIOGRAPHY
Jason N Parkinson started his career as a print journalist in 2001. He began working in video in 2005 covering the G8 protests in Scotland. Since then he has specialized in covering civil unrest and a range of national and international protests for online newspapers and television. He has also produced investigations on social and environmental issue, including the privatised water sources of Coca Cola in Southern Mexico, and the homeless war-on-terror refugee camps in Northern France.  Jason was a Rory Peck Award for News finalist in 2011 for his work on anti-Mubarak protests in Cairo.

LINKS

• Jason's work on guardian.co.uk
• Jason's website
• Jason on Twitter