Daphne Caruana Galizia to be honoured with 2017 Tully Award for Free Speech

The late journalist will be honoured posthumously with the 2017 Tully Award for Free Speech, presented by the Newhouse School’s Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, New York

Daphne Caruana Galizia will be honoured posthumously with a 2017 Tully Award for Free Speech, presented by the Newhouse School’s Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, New York.

Caruana Galizia’s husband, Dr. Peter Caruana Galizia, and their three sons, Matthew, Andrew and Paul, will attend the award ceremony on campus 3 April to accept the award and discuss her life, work and legacy. 

For the Tully Award, a panel of outside nominators submitted the names of several journalists and a panel of Newhouse faculty, students and Tully Center staff selected Caruana Galizia from the pool of international journalists who have faced significant threats to their work, including libel lawsuits, imprisonment and harassment.  

“It will be our privilege to honor Daphne’s life and legacy with her family,” Tully Center director Roy Gutterman said. “Daphne gave her life to telling the truth and exposing corruption. The world, our students and our university community can learn a lot about her sacrifice.”

The Tully Award was endowed by the late Joan Tully ’69. The Newhouse School’s Tully Center educates students and the public about the important value of free speech through education, resources and research. As part of her bequest, Tully asked that an award be given to honor a journalist who has shown courage in facing a free speech threat.

Caruana Galizia was a writer and investigative journalist who throughout her career exposed government corruption and organized crime. She was assassinated by car bomb in front of her house in October 2017. Previously, she experienced numerous threats on her life, physical attacks and harassment, and faced 47 libel lawsuits.