The award for best investigative story went to BIRN contributor Barbara Matejcic for her investigation “Killing for a photograph: What is hidden behind the only photograph of death in the war in Yugoslavia”, published by BIRN Serbia.
Her awarded work examined the circumstances under which photographs from the war in the former Yugoslavia were taken in Brcko in Bosnia in May 1992, documenting acts of execution at close range.
Matejcic’s investigation raises critical questions regarding the circumstances that enabled the creation of these photographs, the roles of their authors, and the factors that made such documentation possible.
Starting this year, the award for reporting in the public interest was also presented to Jelena Kikic from Nova TV and BIRN Serbia’s Radmilo Markovic for their documentary “The General Staff Building: The collapse of the state.”
In the film, they present new documents and revelations to the public about the multi-year, secret project to build a luxury hotel on the site of the heavily damaged General Staff Building, which was conducted without informing or involving the public. The complex was targeted during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and was left largely derelict.
In the category of investigative stories in local media, a group of authors – N. Stevanovic, Ivana Jovanovic and Dejana Cvetkovic were awarded for a series of texts about the position of Albanians in Serbia.
As in previous years, the audience voted for the shortlisted reportages. The reportage with the most votes was “N1 Journalists at the SNS meeting – from recruitment to payment of daily wages,” by young reporters Sara Sekulic and Milos Zekic.
“There is hope for our society as long as there are journalists who, despite everything, write in the public interest,” said NUNS President Zeljko Bodrozic at the award ceremony.
He added that investigative journalists and other professionals have worked in a “hostile environment created by the government” for more than 10 years.
Since 2020, the award has been named after the longtime Vreme magazine journalist Dejan Anastasijevic, who died in 2019.
The award is given on the occasion of World Media Freedom Day because investigative journalism is important for developing journalism, fighting corruption, resisting government and other power pressures on individuals or organizations, and supporting democratic development.
With this award, NUNS aims to support and affirm journalists who, in a serious and professional manner, address topics of great importance to the public in Serbia.