AP delivered a powerful, character-driven report giving voice to Muslim women in France who are being barred from sports competitions because they wear headscarves—garments some in positions of power view as threats to the French Republic’s secular principles.
Finding women willing to speak on the record was not easy. Many feel ostracized and treated like outlaws. But Samuel Petrequin and Alex Turnbull earned their trust, centering their story on Salimata Sylla, a young basketball player who was told moments before a game that she could not play because of her hijab.
The result was a deep, multi-format feature that combined text, video and photography by Thomas Padilla. It offered intimate access and compelling visuals just as France’s long-running debate over the place of its 5 million Muslims was reaching another flashpoint.
AP’s reporting brought much-needed context and humanity to an issue too often discussed in abstract terms—underscoring the personal costs of state policies and the growing tension between identity, religion and secularism in French public life.
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