Tacloban City community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, currently incarcerated on terror financing charges, has been honored with the 2026 Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award. The award, presented by the U.S.-based International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), recognizes journalists who have been unjustly imprisoned for their work.
“Notably, all of this year’s honorees are independent journalists, working without the institutional protections or legal resources often available at major media organizations,” the IWMF stated on May 14. “At a time of mounting threats to press freedom and deep instability across the media industry, their work reminds us why independent journalism matters.”
The IWMF also announced recipients of the 2026 Courage in Journalism Awards: Elaheh and Elnaz Mohammadi of Iran, Georgia Fort of the United States, and Nay Min Ni of Myanmar. “Each of these journalists has demonstrated extraordinary courage in pursuit of the truth, risking their safety and freedom to hold power to account,” the foundation said.
Retired SunStar editor-in-chief Nini Cabaero of STET-Women in Cebu Media praised Cumpio for the recognition. “This is recognition of her courage while behind bars. May freedom be her next reward,” Cabaero said.
The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL), Cumpio’s legal counsel, remarked: “Whatever the local court may have ruled, the world recognizes Frenchie Mae as a journalist imprisoned for doing her job; and in that recognition lies the most damning vindication of her work and cause as a people’s journalist. As her legal counsel, we are profoundly honored and grateful to have been entrusted with her legal battles. She is one of the brave clients who inspire us to be brave lawyers.”
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), which nominated Cumpio, thanked the IWMF “for selecting Frenchie from among the many nominees from around the world.” In a statement on May 15, the NUJP said: “The IWMF’s award affirms the importance of community journalism, or in the words of Frenchie, ‘amplifying the voices of marginalized and oppressed sectors.’” The NUJP reiterated its call for her release.
Before her arrest in 2020, Cumpio served as executive director of Eastern Vista and worked as a block-time radio broadcaster for a local station in Tacloban City.
