The award recognises exceptional journalism in dangerous or difficult conditions, and Evangelista, 28, produced an impressive body of work on two of the Southeast Asian nation's most brutal events of 2013.


Evangelista spent a month reporting from fishing and farming communities devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm ever recorded on land that killed more than 7,000 people in November.


She travelled to the disaster zones of the central Philippines only weeks after returning from covering a 21-day stand-off between the military and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga in the south of the country in which more than 200 people died.


"Patricia is deserving of this award because, like Kate Webb, she has made it her mission to cover dangerous and difficult stories with a balanced, nuanced eye and astonishing courage," said Gilles Campion, AFP's regional director for the Asia-Pacific.


"This was exemplified by her coverage of Haiyan's destruction and the Zamboanga conflict."


Evangelista, who works for Philippine news portal Rappler and Esquire magazine, will receive a 3,000-euro ($4,100) prize. The award will be formally presented at a ceremony later this year.


The prize is named after New Zealander Kate Webb, one of AFP's finest correspondents, who died in 2007 at the age of 64.