The European Press Prize has announced the winners for its 2024 edition, honoring outstanding European journalism that reflected significant events impacting Europe and the world.
Ιn the year of the European elections, European Press Prize 2024 Winners and Runners-up expose influential lobby groups meddling in EU legislation negotiations, confront EU authorities on migration issues and reflect on the hypocrisy of right wing ruling.
Among them were three entries involving journalists from Greece:
- Investigative Reporting Award – Runner-Up
The EU Fight Against Child Pornography Stokes Fears of Widespread Online Surveillance
- Migration Journalism Award – Runner-Up
- Special Award – Winner
The Border Graves Investigation
Discover the Prize 2024 awards:
DISTINGUISHED REPORTING AWARD
Winner
Kazakhstan-Xinjiang, the Border of Tears: Muslim minorities are subject to unprecedented persecution in China, in Xinjiang territories, facing the risk of deportation or forced internment. This article tells the harrowing stories of survivors, from Kazakhstan, East Turkestan, and Xinjiang, of Chinese re-education camps, and their day-to-day struggle with going back to their previous lives.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING AWARD
Winner
Iraq Without Water: The Cost of Oil to Italy: In this investigation, the authors expose the detrimental effects, in Iraq, of unregulated oil extraction and water draining for extraction purposes. They also investigate the lack of regulations and accountability for European oil companies when they scale up their investments outside the EU.
INNOVATION AWARD
Winner
Lapdogs of War: A Guide to Russia’s Wartime Oligarchs: The piece is an investigation into the role of Russian oligarchs in the war against Ukraine. It exposes how the richest Russians earned billions of dollars with defence contracts, producing, amongst others, the weapons used to kill civilians in Ukrainian cities.
PUBLIC DISCOURSE AWARD
Winner
We Have Betrayed a Generation: Violence against elderly people has been steadily on the rise in Slovenia. This piece recounts stories and testimonies of family members of the elderly who were subjected to such violence, relating it to the broader European issue of an ageing population, and the many deficiencies of the elderly care system.
MIGRATION JOURNALISM AWARD
Winner
How Europe Outsourced Border Enforcement to Africa: an inquiry into the European Union’s migration funding. The author visits the border between Senegal and Mauritania to analyse the so-called EU externalisation policies and Senegalese police forces using surveillance equipment as part of multi-million euro, taxpayer funded projects.
SPECIAL AWARD
Winner
The Border Graves Investigation: a cross-border investigation between four media outlets that uncovered the existence of more than a thousand unmarked graves of migrants scattered around several European countries. This investigation illustrates that, while the EU passed a resolution that recognises the need for a coordinated database to collect details of deceased migrants’ bodies, the issue remains a legislative void.
Aside from the Winners, the Panel of Judges also accorded a special mention to Runners-Up in all five Award Categories.
For its 2024 edition, the European Press Prize partnered up with MDIF – Media Investment Development Fund, which has one of its local representative offices in Prague.
About the European Press Prize
The European Press Prize celebrates the highest achievements in European journalism. It is made possible by a number of foundations and organisations that strive to encourage independent quality journalism in Europe: Democracy and Media Foundation, iMEdD – Incubator for Media Education and Development, Jyllands-Posten Foundation, Media Development Investment Fund, Politiken Foundation, the Scott Trust, The Irish Times Trust Limited, and Vereniging Veronica. Additionally, support for the European Press Prize’s Migration Journalism Award comes from the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
The European Press Prize is awarded on a yearly basis in 5 categories: Distinguished Reporting, Innovation, Investigative Reporting, Public Discourse, and Migration Journalism. The Panel of Judges also awards a Special Award to journalism that defies categories and disciplines. Each award is worth €10,000.
iMEdD is a funding member in the European Press Prize.
