"Agha was beheaded shortly after the group was abducted... On March 19, the Italian was freed in exchange for five senior Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government...

After Mastrogiacomo's release, Ajmal remained in Taliban hands. Supposedly, he was being held until the government handed over two more Taliban prisoners. But then, two days before the expiration date they executed him...

There can be no better moment than this one to establish a special compensation fund for the indispensable, underpaid and often unnamed Ajmals and Sayeds who pull us through and help us get our stories around the world, and who, increasingly, are paying the ultimate price for doing so."

Frontline donated £5,000 to the families of Ajmal and Sayed in 2008.

You can make a tax free donation here. Thank you.

Click To Play

We're just going live right now with the Frontline Club Journalism Awards and the annual party. The club is now five years old. And it looks like Vaughan is relating the history of the club right now. Hope you come and join us...

UPDATE: In the video above you can see Frontline Club founder, Vaughan Smith giving a speech during the awards - apologies, it's a bit jolty but the best quality I have just now. And in the video below you can see some of the images that helped Yuri Kozyrev win this year's award. 

Prompted by the murder of Ajmal Naqshbandi in Afghanistan in 2007, the Frontline Club has initiated the Fixer’s Fund - a special project to raise money for the families of fixers killed or injured around the world while working with the international media.

Please support this worthy cause. The death of fixers and support staff in the field are all too often swiftly forgotten but foreign reporters could not operate in the field without them. To try and help these unsung heroes of the industry, the Frontline Club has set up this fund and pledges to pass on 100 percent of all the contributions it receives to the families involved.

All cheques should be made out to The Frontline Club Charitable Trust or donate to the fund on the Charity Giving website.

If you've nipped into the Frontline Club recently you might have noticed the Fixers Fund gift donation envelopes, on the stairs, at the bar and in the forum. We've also put together a short video explaining more about the fund and how it was started following the murder of Ajmal Naqshbandi. Afghan journalist and fixer Najibullah Razzaq discusses the importance of their job along with BBC journalists Alan Little, Jeremy Bowen and Martin Bell. 

John D. McHugh will talk about his work as he accepts the inaugural Frontline Journalism Award at the Frontline Club tonight. Brent Stirton will also receive the inaugural Frontline Memorial Tribute. Please tune in to our live stream channel to watch and listen to John in conversation with Jon Lee Anderson and club members. More info here,

Freelance photojournalist John D. McHugh wins the Frontline Club Award for his work in Afghanistan in 2007. McHugh financed his own trip and worked as a freelance for AFP, the Sunday Times, Newsweek as well as filing to his personal blog. He later sold images to FHM magazine and other outlets. McHugh was shot by a Taliban fighter on May 14, 2007 after spending five weeks in country embedded with the 10th Mountain Division in northeastern Afghanistan.

And if you're a blogger, please feel free to grab the embed code from beneath the video pane and broadcast the event on your blog. UPDATE: Here's the recording of the evening in full. Photo this & that has some pictures from the evening.

Right from the very beginning the Frontline Club broke all conventions. From cameraman Vaughan Smith's late 80's visions of flying over the Afghan frontline in a Microlite to shacking up in Osama Bin Laden's residence in Kabul. The founders of the Frontline Club didn't just shirk convention, they booted it out the door. With those ideals firmly in mind, and this being a Friday night, we choose this moment to announce the winners of the inaugural Frontline Club Journalism Awards. There are two awards, there are no finalists, there are only winners. The Frontline Club Award will be given annually and the Frontline Memorial Tribute occasionally. The Frontline Memorial Tribute is dedicated to the memory of Frontline Club members killed in the course of their work. The judges are drawn from the club's 1000+ membership and currently comprise of Jon Lee Anderson, Patrick Cockburn, Carlotta Gall, Gary Knight, Christina Lamb, Allan Little, Anthony Loyd, Seamus Murphy and Vaughan Smith (Chair) The winner of the 2007 Frontline Club Award is currently in Afghanistan for The Guardian newspaper,

2007 Frontline Club Award Freelance photojournalist John D. McHugh wins the Frontline Club Award for his work in Afghanistan in 2007. McHugh financed his own trip and worked as a freelance for AFP, the Sunday Times, Newsweek as well as filing to his personal blog. He later sold images to FHM magazine and other outlets. McHugh was shot by a Taliban fighter on May 14, 2007 after spending five weeks in country embedded with the 10th Mountain Division in northeastern Afghanistan. He very nearly died. He has returned to Afghanistan on two occasions most recently on a multimedia commission for The Guardian newspaper.

The winner of The Frontline Memorial Tribute is Brent Stirton,

2007 Frontline Memorial Tribute Brent Stirton wins the inaugural Frontline Memorial Tribute Award for his photographic essay on gorillas in the eastern part of The Democratic Republic of Congo. The judges focussed on one image in particular (no. 33 from this series link http://www.brentstirton.com/feature-gorillas.php). The image is of a dead male gorilla, one of four found in the forests in Virunga and transported by around 16 rangers.

The awards ceremony will take place at the Frontline Club in London on 20 June. All proceeds from the event will go to the Fixers Fund - set up by the Frontline Club Charitable Trust to promote responsibility in the news industry for the welfare of fixers and translators. The Fixers Fund was inspired by the story of Ajmal Naqshbandi.