Nominations have opened for a new award, celebrating the best of European cross-border investigative journalism award since January 2019. The winners will receive prizes of €5,000 each, and be invited to an awards ceremony in Spring 2021.

 

The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom is launching the award to celebrate the journalists who work across borders, in other EU member states and candidate countries, and whose innovative storytelling engages audiences in Europe and beyond.

 

Nominations for the inaugural award are open until Monday 9 November 2020. Applications can be submitted online through the IJ4EU website.

 

Commenting, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) Managing Director, Dr. Lutz Kinkel said:

“All over Europe we see brilliant investigative journalists, but we also see how fragile their existence is. Cross-border investigative journalism is costly and a constant annoyance for the powerful. That is why there is a lot of pressure on this kind of reporter. We want to reward the brave and selfless journalists who nevertheless stick to their investigations, no matter what, and create an impact for the societies they report on. We, the readers, need them. And democracy needs them too.”

Journalists are welcome to nominate their own investigations, as long as they were published via a credible medium (including print, broadcast, online, documentary film, and multimedia).

 

The general eligibility is as follows:

  • The project must have been published between 1 January 2019 and 30 September 2020.
  • The project must have been carried out by teams of at least two journalists in EU member states and/or candidate countries (with at least one journalist or news organisation based in an EU member state).
  • The project must be relevant to audiences in at least two EU member states and/or candidate countries (with at least one EU member state audience).
  • The project may be in any language. However, for projects not published in English, nominations must include an English translation, or summary, of the core findings of the investigation.
  • Nominations must include any significant challenge to the honesty, accuracy or fairness of the investigation; such as published letters, corrections or retractions, as well as any responses by the media outlet.

 

A team of independent researchers will start to evaluate applications from Monday 9 November 2020. At the beginning of 2021 an independent award jury, selected by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, will review a shortlist of nominations and select three cross-border investigations as the three winners of the IJ4EU Impact Award. Each award will be worth €5,000. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony during the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom’s Uncovered conference in Spring 2021.

 

Part of the IJ4EU (Investigative Journalism for Europe) project, the award is managed by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and supported by the International Press Institute and the European Journalism Centre.

IJ4EU Impact Award logo

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