"As Thailand readied to hold its first coronation in 70 years, rich in pageantry and rituals, I faced a tricky situation," writes Sophie Deviller, a journalist based in Bangkok.

"As a journalist, my job was to write as much as possible about the new sovereign and his reign. But in Thailand, writing the wrong thing about the king can cost you your freedom."

"If you asked me a few months ago what Mozambique brought to mind, I would have told you the same as  many fellow South Africans -- pleasant memories of drinking rum and raspberry soda while lying on a picturesque beach during a summer holiday," writes Maryke Vermaak, a video journalist based in Johannesburg.

"But that was before March, when I flew into the country to cover the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, one of the deadliest storms on record to hit the southern hemosphere that devastated parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, killing nearly 1,000 people and impacting more than two million, the vast majority of them in Mozambique."