Lola Almudevar
Lola Almudevar (London, 28 June 1978 – La Paz, 25 November 2007) was a British journalist and news reporter. She reported for BBC News.[1]
Early life
Almudevar was born in London, England on 28 June 1978, to a Spanish father and a British mother.[1] She grew up in Nottingham.[1] Almudevar graduated from the University of Leeds in 1999 with a degree in European Studies.[1] She wrote for the university newspaper, the Leeds Student, while attending the school.[1]
Career
Almudevar moved to Brussels, Belgium, following her graduation, where she worked for the European Union.[1] She was subsequently awarded the [Schwarzkopf Foundation]'s Young European of the Year prize in 1999 for her work in promoting unity among diverse young people through her journalism.[1]
She was first hired by the BBC in 2002.[1] She initially worked for BBC Midlands. Almudevar also worked on radio and television programs while working at BBC Midlands, including Midlands Today and Inside Out.[1] She also created "docu-dramas" for the network before becoming an overseas reporter and correspondent for the BBC.[1]
According to BBC News, Almudevar won an award for her work on Alexandra Road, a ten-part series that followed the lives of residents of a street in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, which she co-produced with fellow BBC journalist, Brady Haran.[1]
She took a sabbatical leave from the BBC in 2006, when she travelled to several Latin American countries, including Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Argentina.[1] She produced a number of news pieces while on sabbatical which focused on issues facing the region, including street children and a campaign to legalize the production of the coca leaf.[1]
Death
Almudevar was killed going out to cover a story for the BBC. The taxi she was travelling in collided at night with the wreckage from a previous collision between lorries which had not been cleared off the main highway. The accident happened near the Bolivian village of Calamarca on 25 November 2007.[1] She was just 29 years old.[1]
Almudevar and another journalist were travelling to the Bolivian city of Sucre to cover a story about political unrest in the city due to the approval of a new regional draft constitution.[1] Flights had been suspended to Sucre so Almudevar was forced to take the taxi.[1]
Almudevar's taxi collided with the wreckage from two trucks which had been involved in an earlier accident.[1] Lola Almudevar was killed, along with the two truck drivers, and Clotilde Fernandez, the wife of the taxi driver who was accompanying him.[1] Spanish Reuters reporter Eduardo Garcia, who was traveling with Almudevar to Sucre, was also seriously injured in the accident.[1]
Lola Almudevar was posthumously awarded BBC Programme Maker of the Year by the BBC World Service in 2008, in recognition of her outstanding documentary work.