Philips has helped shape a newsroom culture where courageous reporting and legal integrity go hand in hand.
Gill Phillips, the lawyer who has helped protect some of the most groundbreaking journalism of recent years, will chair the jury for this year’s IJ4EU Impact Award. We’re honoured to have her lead the process of recognising outstanding journalistic work that makes a difference.
Phillips has stood at the intersection of truth and power, advising journalists on how to publish stories in the public interest — and survive the legal storm. For over a decade as Director of Editorial Legal Services at The Guardian, she helped shape a newsroom culture where courageous reporting and legal integrity went hand in hand.
As an editorial legal consultant for NGOs and non-profits, Phillips continues to be a quiet force behind fearless journalism. She is the current co-editor of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, teaches media law on the Journalism MA course at City St George’s University, and is a consultant with Reviewed and Cleared.
Gill Phillips is the fifth chair to oversee the IJ4EU Impact Award jury, which selects the winners of three annual cash prizes of €5,000. The awards celebrate cross-border investigative teams that have broken new grounds in reporting on transnational issues.
She follows in the footsteps of previous jury chairs: award-winning Maltese journalist Paul Caruana Galizia, Hungarian freelance journalist Attila Mong, CORRECTIV.Europe’s Director Joanna Krawczyk, and Shaun Walker, Central and Eastern Europe correspondent for The Guardian.
The 2025 Impact Award winners will be announced on 26 September during a special ceremony at IJ4EU’s annual conference UNCOVERED, hosted in Athens by the iMEdD International Journalism Forum.
