The OSCE Presence in Albania has given Rashela Shehu and Fiori Sinoruka its award for the best investigative story for 2020 for their investigation into the impact of the lack of financing of scientific research on Albania’s public universities.
The investigation, entitled ‘Lack of Scientific Research Leaves Albania in Ruins’ was published by BIRN Albania’s publication Reporter.al.
The investigation was supported by BIRN Albania as part of an open call for investigative stories, backed by the National Endowment for Democracy.
As well as Shehu and Sinoruka, two other journalists were awarded grants to cover their expenses to conduct investigations and write stories on the education system in Albania.
Fiori Sinokura is a freelance journalist based in Tirana and a former participant in BIRN’s Resonant Voices Fellowship. Rashela Shehu is a television journalist with Albania’s national broadcaster TV Klan.