“Authorities Guilty of Complacency Over North Macedonia’s Phosphogypsum Dump”, published on Balkan Insight in August 2025, revealed how millions of tonnes of waste, including radioactive elements, have for decades remained in an unprotected landfill in the village of Zgropolci, near Veles, without institutional oversight, despite the risk to public health and the environment.
At the awards ceremony on March 2, Blazevski, an alumnus of BIRN’s Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Programme, called on institutions to introduce systematic monitoring of this environmental hotspot, which, he reminded the audience, “is not the only one in our country causing environmental problems.”
First prize went to journalist Mihail Miloshevski from the newsroom “360 Degrees” for the story “Five More Cities Discovered What Is Polluting Their Air – What Will the Mayors Do”, which identified specific sources of pollution in Kumanovo, Kavadarci, Gostivar, Strumica and Struga.
Third prize went to Vladimir Kalinski of Radio Free Europe for the story “Every Breath Hurts: Testimony of a Cancer Patient on Life in Polluted Skopje”, which conveys the personal struggle of a Skopje resident battling the disease.
A special recognition was awarded to journalist Orce Kostov from “Fokus” for the story “No Measure Is Delivering Results: Skopje Breathes the Most Toxic Air in Europe Despite an Invention to Disperse Fog and Pollutants.”
The awards were presented by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, and the Embassy of Sweden. The prizes have been awarded for several years to encourage the production of higher-quality investigative journalism on this issue and to put pressure on institutions to address air pollution, which claims several thousand lives in the country each year.