Semira Degirmendzic, Predrag Blagovčanin, Džana Brkanić, Lamija Grebo and Arduana Pribinja were selected from many colleagues as this year’s winners for their stories published in 2022 exposing violations of labour rights, protection of war crimes, the spread of hatred and wrongdoings in the health system.
The jury consisted of Lamija Aleckovic, a media expert with over two decades of experience in journalism; Lejla Turcilo, a professor at the University of Sarajevo specializing in media theory, journalism, PR and online media; and Tanja Topic, a former journalist, political analyst and media expert.
The first prize went to Semira Degirmendzic (Fokus.ba, Raport.ba) for the story “Turkish Cengiz got deals worth a billion marks, but will not pay compensation to the workers.”
The second prize was shared between Predrag Blagovčanin and Džana Brkanić and Lamija Grebo.
Blagovčanin, from Tacno.net, got the second prize for the story “Between the HDZ and DF: How the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina protected a war criminal”. Brkanić and Grebo, from Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, got the second prize for the story “Probation does not prevent the spread of hatred”.
The third place was given to Arduana Pribinja from Al Jazeera Balkans for her story “Misuse of prescriptions by patients in Sarajevo Canton (parts I and II)”.
Lejla Turcilo, representing the jury members, explained the decision and announced the winners while the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Johann Sattler, handed the certificates to the winners.
More information can be found here.
The EU Award for Investigative Journalism 2023 is part of the project “Strengthening Quality Journalism in Western Balkans and Türkiye II”. This aims to recognise and promote outstanding achievements in investigative journalism as well as improve the visibility of quality journalism in the Western Balkans and Türkiye.