As a high school student, Guylaine Idoux-Colin obtained a scholarship to study in the United States. When she returned to France, she studied at the Political Science Institute in Bordeaux, the Louvain-la-Neuve Institute of European Studies and the Lille School of Journalism. During her studies, she completed several in-service training programmes at Agence France Presse (AFP), which gave her a taste for travel and special reports. Accompanied by her photographer husband Mathieu Colin, she travelled throughout Asia. Supported by 19 different sponsors, they spent nine months there, sending back regular reports to Terminus Hong Kong, the first special-reports website fed directly from abroad. Freelance assignments also kept coming in, primarily for women’s and current events magazines. In January 2000, she left for three months in Australia. “It was the right time to do this special report. The Olympic Games were going to be held there, providing a link with current events. In addition, people in France didn’t really know much about Australia, where 150 ethnic groups live together in a truly multicultural society. Immigrants are well assimilated, even though the country was overwhelmingly white up until 1972. In just 25 years, Australia has made a huge leap forward.”

Achievements since winning the Grant

In 2000, she completed her Australian project and was published several times. In 2002, working as an independent journalist, she completed special reports on Mexico, Vietnam and Hong Kong for French and foreign tourist magazines. In 2005, while working as an independent journalist in Marseille, she collaborated with Elle and Version Femina on lifestyle and tourism topics. She also worked as a restaurant critic for the Gantie Guide and the Green Michelin Guides.