Yesterday we celebrated our annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, which honour the bravest and most dedicated individuals and organisations campaigning for free speech around the world. The event was hosted by the comedian and writer Ayesha Hazarika and took place at London's May Fair hotel. It was sobering and uplifting in equal measure, a powerful reminder of the challenges and importance of human rights journalism, art and campaigning, and how an accident of fate - where you are born or live - determines how much greater the risks are. 

We were delighted to have the winner of this year's Trustees Award, Andrey Kurkov (pictured), able to attend the ceremony in person. Born in 1961 in Leningrad and moving to Ukraine shortly after, it's difficult to overstate the importance of the work that Kurkov has done to advance knowledge and understanding of the war in Ukraine and raise the profile of writers from the country. Kurkov, who is known for his surrealist and laconic prose, said that since the annexation of Crimea back in 2014 he'd almost lost his sense of humour twice. But he still ended his moving speech on a joke, saying that he dreams of the day when Ukraine will become a normal country again "like the UK".

The Journalism Award went to Huang 'Sophia' Xueqin, whose dedication to her work and to China's MeToo movement led to her imprisonment in the country. Index spent months trying to reach Huang. Sadly, due to the opaque nature of China's justice system we were unable to. The feminist activist Lü Pin accepted the award on her behalf. Winner of the Arts Award was Hamlet Lavastida from Cuba, who told us that the award was incredibly important for both himself and the wider network of artists in Cuba who daily face repression. He said it would raise awareness of their struggles. OVD-Info, an independent media project on human rights and political persecutions in Russia, won the Campaigning Award. Leonid from OVD-Info said that the award was an encouraging sign that people outside Russia understand that not all inside the country are in favour of the war.

As ever we thank all of you for your continuing support of our organisation. To read more on the awards click here.

And while we have your attention, please read here about Hong Kong activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai, who was found guilty of fraud earlier this week. These trumped-up charges are clearly designed to discredit Lai ahead of his National Security trial in December. They signify an escalation in Beijing's frontline attack on freedoms in Hong Kong and should be condemned loudly. The trial also came just days after the astonishing removal of former Chinese leader Hu Jintao from Beijing's Great Hall stage during the twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress. It was a moment of drama in an otherwise tightly choreographed event, wrote Index editor-in-chief Jemimah Steinfeld. Needless to say, both these events show the importance of people like our award winner Huang Xueqin, people who challenge power in an increasingly belligerent China.