European Union Investigative Journalism Award went to Aleksandar Djordjevic for the article “Draining the mine and the budget,” published on the web-site of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).
At the award ceremony held at the EU Info Centre, Djordjevic said the award gave him grounds for satisfaction but it also “serves as a reminder that I have to keep working the way I always have.”
The second and third prize went to Darko Sper for a series of articles about the trial against organisation Nacionalni stroj, published by Investigative and analytic centre of Vojvodina (VOICE) and a group of BIRN journalists – Ivan Angeloski, Petrit Collaku, Kreshnik Gashi and Jelena Cosic – for their text titled “Millions for Veselinovic and other partners without a tender procedure”.
Also, awards were presented to top young journalists engaged in investigative journalism – Snezana Djuric and Novak Grujic – who published several articles on 11 public officials who failed to declare their assets.
Head of information, communication and press at the EU Delegation to Serbia Ramūnas Janušauskas read the letter by Andris Kesteris, advisor at the EU Directorate General for Enlargement, stating that “without independent media, neither good governance nor proper formulation of democracy can be achieved”.
“Politics and economy must be accountable whereas citizens deserve to be informed,” the letter read.
First prize is 5,000 euros, second prize amounts to 4,000 euros, whereas the third prize and best young journalist prize are worth 3,000 euros.
Awards were decided by the jury composed of professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences Rade Veljanovski, Editor of web portal Insajder Brankica Stankovic, journalist Ljubica Gojgic, member of Anti-Corruption Council Miroslava Milenovic and lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad Vladimir Barovic.
37 groups of journalists applied for the contest.
