(Leipzig, 7 September 2023) The Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig is awarding the Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media 2023 to German television reporter Katrin Eigendorf. The award honours media professionals and institutions, who have committed themselves to freedom of the press and expression by their work and who, in doing so, also accept repression, often including attacks on life and limb. The Prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and will be awarded on 8 October 2023 at Media Campus Villa Ida, the seat of Media Foundation.
Katrin Eigendorf will be honoured for her work and commitment in recent years: “Whether it’s Russia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq or Ukraine: for many years Katrin Eigendorf’s reporting in situations of war and crisis, takes equal account of those in power and those who are powerless,” explains Stephan Seeger, Managing Director of the Leipzig Media Foundation: “In this way, she is able to give the German public a complete picture of the countries she is reporting from, including both political issues and the living conditions there. The fact that her work under war conditions is dangerous and that it requires a great deal of courage – as was recently the case in Afghanistan or in Ukraine – does not prevent her from her journalistic work,” Seeger continued.
The jury, made up of the Board and Foundation Council of Media Foundation, had to choose from a large number of top-class proposals again this year. The appointment of the prize-winner was preceded by scientific research on all candidates.
About the laureate
Katrin Eigendorf, born on 1 July 1962 in Tönisvorst, Germany, completed her high school diploma in Krefeld and studied journalism in Dortmund and Paris. She started her career as an editorial trainee at WDR (West German Broadcasting) in Cologne. She has worked as a foreign correspondent since the 1990s, including at ARD (First German Broadcasting) studio in Paris and as RTL correspondent in Moscow. Eigendorf has been active for ZDF (Second German Broadcasting) since 1999, including as a presenter of auslandsjournal extra, as a foreign correspondent in Moscow and as an international reporter, especially in war and crisis zones since 2018.
Her main areas of work include Russia, Middle East policy, Turkey and Afghanistan. In 2022 she published the book “Putin’s War – How the people of Ukraine fight for our freedom”. Katrin Eigendorf has received many awards for her journalistic work, such as the Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Preis in 2021 and the Grimme Preis in 2022 for her reports from Afghanistan, as well as the Deutscher Fernsehpreis. German Medium Magazin named Eigendorf “Journalist of the Year” in 2022. In 2023, she was awarded the Augsburger Friedenspreis.
About the Prize
Every year since 2001, Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig has honoured journalists, publishers and institutions who are committed to the freedom and future of the media with great personal commitment with the Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media. The award is also intended to keep alive the memory of the Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig on 9 October 1989: At that time, the East German demonstrators called for “a free press for a free country”.
More information can be found on Media Foundation website.
