The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation announced today that FRONTLINE’s 2022 documentary Afghanistan Undercover has been honored with a Gracie Award in the “Documentary – International Investigation [TV – National]” category.  

Awarded annually, the Gracies “recognize individual achievement and exemplary programming created by, for and about women in news and entertainment in front of and behind the camera and microphone.” This is the first FRONTLINE documentary to be honored with a Gracie Award. 

The documentary, which aired one year after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, reveals what life is like for Afghan women living under Taliban rule. Despite the hardline group initially telling the world that its government would respect women’s rights, Afghanistan Undercover correspondent and producer Ramita Navai’s brave, on-the-ground reporting exposes a very different — and harrowing — reality. 

Often filmed undercover, Navai and her team’s footage shows the regime’s control over women’s lives tightening, with a number of the defiant voices featured in the documentary ultimately being forced into hiding, arrested or fleeing abroad as a result of their activism/speaking out. 

Throughout the award-winning documentary — directed by Karim Shah and senior produced by Eamonn Matthews — Navai puts her life on the line to share the stories of Afghan women: secretly filming in a jail where she discovers women being held by the Taliban without trial or charge; meeting with a group of female lawyers who are banned from working by the Taliban; accompanying an underground network of female activists on dangerous missions to rescue women trying to escape the Taliban. In her reporting, she also unearths evidence of Taliban soldiers forcibly marrying young girls, despite the regime announcing the practice was forbidden, and she speaks with women in abusive marriages who have attempted to end their own lives since the Taliban took over. She also confronts Taliban officials about accounts the team had uncovered of women being arrested for so-called crimes of immorality.

“This Gracie Award means a lot, not just because of the honor of being recognized by my peers for my work, but also because it is an opportunity to spread the word about what the Taliban is really doing to women in Afghanistan — which is far worse than the world knows,” says Navai.

“We are so pleased to see Ramita’s intrepid and critically important reporting be acknowledged by this Gracie Award,” says editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE, Raney Aronson-Rath. “In the face of danger, Ramita is unflinching — and with this story, she laid bare what life is like for women and girls living under Taliban rule. Congratulations to Ramita on this award, along with Karim and Eamonn who helped bring this story to audiences across the globe. We share this honor with our UK production partners at ITV.”

According to the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, which was founded in 1951, the organization is committed to advancing women in media by expanding networks, educating and celebrating accomplishments. The AWMF’s annual Gracie Awards were “created to recognize individuals and content who reflect the roles, stories and priorities of women.”

As noted in the AWMF’s official Gracie Awards announcement, the 48th annual Gracie Awards will be held on May 23 and June 20 of this year in Los Angeles, California. 

You can read a full list of this year’s Gracie Award winners here, and watch FRONTLINE’s award-winning documentary Afghanistan Undercover below:

Afghanistan Undercover (credits)

FRONTLINE PRESS CONTACT: Anne Husted, Manager, PR & Communications, frontlinemedia@wgbh.org