People will tell you no. 'Your job is to not listen to them.' - Poynter

""The Deserter: An epic story of love and war," is " a thrilling tale of escape and a disturbing account of the war. It's also a revealing portrait of how Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine has ricocheted through the private lives of Russia's citizens, and the desperate choices some of them have made to survive,""

""One thing we don't talk enough about, she said, is "writing is so hard. It's so hard to learn it. If you didn't go to journalism school or you don't have, I don't know, some kind of foot in the door like that. It's just when you read a great piece of journalism, the reason it's great is because you have no idea how much work went into it, and it's so hard to figure out how to do it yourself unless someone kind of sits down and walks you through it and walks you through it again.""

Sarah Topol spent a year and a half reporting on life for a deserter in the Russian army. The reporting presents an escape narrative alongside a disturbing account of war and its effects. The work shows how Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine rippled into private Russian lives and forced desperate survival choices. The project earned the Deborah Howell Award for Excellence in the 2025 Poynter Journalism Prizes. Topol emphasized that learning the craft is difficult, often requiring mentorship and extensive unseen effort. She urged aspiring journalists to persist through rejections and seek editors who support their ideas.

Read at Poynter