Produced by the Wheeler Centre and published by Guardian Australia, the podcast chronicles life on Manus Island for Abdul Aziz Muhamat

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The story of a Sudanese refugee detained on Manus Island under Australia’s offshore detention regime was awarded the top honour at an international radio festival in New York on Monday night.

Produced by the Wheeler Centre and published by Guardian Australia, The Messenger podcast chronicles daily life on Manus Island for Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a Zaghawa man from the Darfur region of Sudan, who fled his homeland in 2013 only to find himself locked up indefinitely in Papua New Guinea.

The Messenger beat a strong field of international competitors across 150 categories to be named one of 2017’s three grand award winners at the New York festival’s International Radio Program awards.

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It also picked up two gold medals, one for national or international affairs documentary broadcasts and one for news podcasts.

Aziz tells his story to journalist Michael Green over 3,500 brief WhatsApp messages sent from detention, detailing his journey by boat, the deterioration and deaths of friends on Manus and the confusion and frustration of detention.

The friendship between Aziz and Green and the growing understanding of each other is at the heart of the series.

“It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness,” Aziz said when he was told The Messenger had won.

“I have no scar to show my happiness. What I have seen in detention, what I have experienced – there is nothing in this planet that will make me forget. But I am really, really grateful to each person who spent even one minute of his or her time to listen to the podcast.”

Green, who along with Wheeler Centre producers Jon Tjhia and Sophie Black was in New York on Monday night to pick up the award, said Aziz could not believe they had won.

“That’s exactly what I thought too,” Green said. “But I also know how eloquently and insightfully Aziz has described what he has seen and experienced in detention on Manus Island. We’ve been speaking most days for a year and a half, and it’s been a privilege and a joy to get to know him – and I think it’s like that for the listeners too.”

Guardian Australia journalist Ben Doherty, who helped to edit and fact-check the podcast, said the unique nature of the project was that was in the refugee’s own voice.

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“So often in the vociferous debate about asylum in this country, the voices heard least are those of the refugees and asylum seekers themselves,” Doherty said.

“Aziz doesn’t need anybody to speak for him, he has a voice of his own, and he’s a powerful advocate for those held in the arcane world of Australia’s offshore detention. He is a messenger, and his story is compelling.”

The Messenger was co-produced by Tjhia and Black for the Wheeler Centre and Green, André Dao, Bec Fary and Hannah Reich for Behind the Wire.

Past winners of the grand award include Radiolab, the BBC and the New York Philharmonic.